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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 14

The House of Commons — Under the old Regime

page 39

The House of Commons

Under the old Regime.

Election Expenses.

The following figures are selected from the Parliamentary return of expenses at the general election of 1880, omitting shillings and pence:—
Liberal Expenses. Conservative Expenses.
East Cheshire £2,404 £8,205
West Essex 2,542 5,080
South Essex 1,525 15,531
Herefordshire 3,177 6,018
West Kents 5,415 10,646
Middlesex 6,377 11,506
Moumouthshire 3,268 8,960
South Northumberland 3,334 6,750
West Somerset 3,263 6,430
East Surrey 6,990 12,437
Breconshire 2,830 5,239
Carmarthenshire 1,538 6,311
Carnarvonshire £3,175 £9,227
Montgomery shire 6,650 13,453
Pembrokeshire 928 2,998
Bath 1,438 3,464
Chelsea 3,715 5,631
Dudley 1,711 4,561
Greenwich 3,621 7,166
Hackney 1,588 4,134
Marylebone 2,445 5,395
Norwich 1,554 6,493
Portsmouth 2,053 5,052
Sheffield 2,542 4,025
Westminster 3,588 6,146
York 4,398 6,111
Cardiff 1,439 3,278
£85,508 £210,253

And the following is a condensed

Summary of the Full Return.

COUNTIES AND DIVISIONS CONTESTED.

Hence it appeared that at the close of the General Election the Liberals had a majority of 175—414 to 239. By the subsequent voiding of 12 seats, 7 of them held by Liberals, and 5 by Conservatives, the numbers were reduced to 407 against 234, and the majority to 173. According to the expenditure at contested elections specified in the Return, that of. the Liberals was £740,016, that of the Conservatives £936,586, i.e. £189,570 more, although their defeat was attributed to want of money. The total on both sides was thus £1,681,602, but this must have been very much below the mark, for, in the first place, it did not include the charges of Returning Officers at 65 uncontested elections, or any account at all respecting 25 contested elections, or, most important of all, what was spent in bribing, feasting, and drenching electors. If these items had been included, the cost of the Election Saturnalia of 1880 would probably have turned out to be nearer to £3,000,000 than £2,000,000 sterling.