MANY COMPLAINTS MADE OVER THE LICENSING POLL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 7, 8 March 1950, Page 5

MANY COMPLAINTS MADE OVER THE LICENSING POLL

Since the announcement that a

poll is to be held to elect five men of the ten nominated to the of Plenty Licensing Committee, reports of extreme dissatisfaction of the arrangements made have been received at Whakatane from all over the district. Apart from the main centres electors in the smaller districts will have no opportunity to cast their; votes unless they travel, in some cases, long distances to the booths. It is expected that as a result' of this a number of people will not vote. Beside the dissatisfaction of the polling arrangements there have been a number of complaints about the lack o£, publicity given the calling of nominations for the committee. According to one man, “few people seem to know what is going t on and why it is so important that 'they cast their votes.” . Telegram To Minister Complaints have started right at / Whakatane. Kopeopeo residents are dissatisfied with only one booth for the borough being at the courthouse, two miles from the main residential area. Protesting in a more 'tangible form the Whakatane Ratepayers’ and Progressive Asociation on Monday sent a telegram to the Minister of Affairs and to the clerk of the Licensing Committee at Rotorua, pointing this out and asking for something to be done -«about it. y Similar action has been taken by

the Murupara Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Murupara, Galatea, Kaingarda, Te Whaiti and Minginui. Residents in these districts will have to travel to Rotorua or Whakatane, 40 miles away, if they want to vote. The chamber has asked for a booth for the district.

So far no replies have ; been received to either telegram. A similar position now exists at Waimana. According to Mr J. L. Burnett, a well known resident of that district and chairman of the Whakatane County Council, many Waimana and Nukuhou people will not vote because they have to travel about 20 miles either to Opotiki or Taneatua to the nearest booths. He thought it was very unreasonable to cut the district out altogether.

At the general election there was a booth in either district.

People living in the Te Tek<o> Otakiri, Awakeri, Manawahe, Mat-

ata and Ruatpki districts all have long distances to travel if they want to vote and the chances are that most will not bother. The nearest

booth for Te Teko, Otakiri, Awakeri, Manawahe and Matata residents is at Edgecumbe, while that for Ruatoki people is at Taneatua.

Ohope Too Ohope people Have also been left out. Should any Ohope resident want to vot4 on Tuesday he will have to come to Whakatane. At an impromptu meeting on Saturday night the matter was discussed and although it was felt that a booth should be established at Ohope the attendance to the meeting was so small it was felt that no action could be taken. From present indications it appears that people in the districts that have no booths or who have to travel some distance to reach one Will probably not be voting. All reports show widespread dissatisfaction.