THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1081, 23 October 1883, Page 2

THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

To the Editor.

Sir, —Every now and then I notice that the Registration Officers for other electoral districts than our own appear in Court in support of objections ledged, : by them against persona who have lost the qualifications which originally entitled them to a place on the roll of electors. The Act, if 1 mistake not, makes ifc i lhn» express duty of the Registntion Officers to keep the rolls constantly purged. The Registration Officer for -Ashburton and Wakanui, however, seQm to have overlooked this fact, for although it is nearly two years since the election-for Ashburton and about eighteen months since the last election for Wakanui took place, he not, to all outward seeming, taken shy steps to remove from the rolls the names of those persons who have ceased to ppa* seas the requisite qualification. allhave a vivid recollection of how, just before the Wakanui election came, a huge pile of claims from Pat O’Connors, ; Timothy Doolens, Michael Houlahans, . and similar distinguished individuals," who had suddenly sprung from nobody knows where, was lodged at the Registration Office, the roll being 'thus stuffed with the names of swaggers, to the manifest wrong of the permanent residents ot the district. Many;' of these gentry have since found their wmw to the North Island, to Southl|tadi :i iifd t the West Coast. Victoria, and goodness ‘ knows where else. A few, alasj judging from the police reports, have been lodjpd in gaol, notwithstanding which they are. •, still capable of exercising the franchise should they emerge from their retiremaQt before the next election. Now, it is very undesirable that the purification of the electoral rolls should be left to political partisans in the heat of an election contest ; especially when the Act ffiakee it... the duty of the Registration Officer, who has nothing to do with any political party, to do the work himself; and I trust our Registration Officer in these politically. quiet times will bestir himself about thii| | matter, and get the rolls under his care made as pure and perfect as possible.—l am, etc., A Residbm rLECTOR.