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POLLS AMENDMENT ACT

Sir, —In your issue of Friday, March 31 appears criticism by the Chariman of the Whakatane County v Council of the Local Elections and Polls Amendment Bill.. I am afraid Mr Burnett and his councillor friends belong to a pre-? historic age and for Mr Burnett to state that the rights of the farming community are attacked, is: sheer nonsense. To my mind the Bill ia long overdue, and I congratulate the Government on introducing it. I would ask Mr Burnett, through your columns this question* Does he believe in democracy? I am sure that he will reply that he does. All the Bill aims to do is to give all citizens resident in the counties the right to choose their representatives, irrespective of whether they own land or not. Too lon4 this anomaly has existed. Every man and. woman whether a landowner or not is paying in one form or another taxation which is levied and used for county purposes. As an in-* stance of this I note that according to the report in the BEACON of. 4th inst. the County Council hope to obtain by way of subsidy from tha Government some £1300 for repair of flood damage. Further is not the tenant the real ratepayer although up to the present the landlord' has been the only l party with voting power. Mr Burnett is reported to have said that this is an iniquitous piece of legislation. I disagree for to my mind this is one of. the motffc demo* cratic measures ever introduced by any Parliament of this country and I claim that the legislation does not go far enough as the iniquitous Plural Vote still exists. It is contended by Mr Burnett that the Bill will create further political factions all over the County and quotes Parliament as an example. Surely he will agree that. Parliament is a democratic institution. Up until the present the Whakatane County Council has had it all its own waj T for the theories of its members are mostly of. the hard boiled Conservative type and they use the Bogey of Socialism in nearly all their discussions but Mr Burnett and his friends will soon realise that the voice of the. people is to be reckoned with when true democracy will have its. way in, spite, of Mr Burnett and the privileged few he now represents. Yours etc., D. ALEXANDER, Secretary, Rangitaiki Branch N.Z. Labour Party. „

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19440414.2.21.1

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 64, 14 April 1944, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
408

POLLS AMENDMENT ACT Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 64, 14 April 1944, Page 4

POLLS AMENDMENT ACT Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 64, 14 April 1944, Page 4

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