Great improvements had been introduced in the
administration of Egypt, but he regretted the total failure of the late
Conference of the Powers to solve the problem of Egyptian finance. With
regard to General Gordon the Government were considering the best means
to be adopted for fulfilling their obligations.
Parliament met in October, 1884. The Franchise Bill was introduced and
sent to the House of Lords, and the Redistribution Bill, upon which a
compromise with the Conservatives had been reached, was presented in the
House of Commons. The measure, as altered, proposed to disfranchise all
boroughs with a population under 15,000, to give only one member to
towns with a population between 15,000 and 50,000, and to take one
member each from the counties of Rutland and Hereford. By this
arrangement one hundred and sixty seats would be "extinguished," which,
with the six seats extinguished before, would be revived and distributed
as follows: "Eight new boroughs would be created, the representation of
London, Liverpool, and other large cities and towns would be greatly
increased, while in dealing with the remainder of the seats
unappropriated, the Government would apply equal electoral areas
throughout the country.
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