The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1911. THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1253, 9 October 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1911. THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

The position regarding the electoral rolls at the present time, is quite unusual, and may turn out to have seriously undesirable results. In past years, despite the complaints that have been made regarding the rolls, the average elector has had little cause to fear that ho would find himself disfranchised on polling day. This year, however, anything may happen, owing to the extraordinary "electoral census." Nobody has yet given any satisfactory explanation why this census was .taken; nobody has explained what good object it could serve; everybody now knows, the fact having been admitted in the House by the Prime Minister that it has caused groa,t confusion and inconvenience. Perhaps it would be unprofitable to inquire now why this expensive act of electoral derangement was undertaken, or why it was not taken at the same time as the general census. The time is so short that we must only consider the remedial measures that are necessary; The main fact is that the expensive muddlement of this unnecessary and mysterious census will result in the disfranchising of many thousands of electors unless every elector personally attends to his or her enrolment. No doubt every elector ought to do this, but the facts being what they are, and not what they ought to be— the fact king, that is to say, that a large section of tho electors rely for qualification upon their enrolment in 1908—it is certainly the business of the Legislature to prevent the ordinary defects of the system from being greatly magnified by the blunder of the unnecessary and .iina.rrntint.aMo. «lei<Mr»l ™n«., c

_ Many people fancy that the fillingin of the electoral census form ensures enrolment. It does not. There is also a general impression that the census was a perfectly thorough and complete act of registration. This is also a mistake. Then there are mysteries within the mystery. Tho Olago Daily Times of Saturday unearthed one of these. It_ quotes a registrar's notice which, since it was in mimeograph, has probably been widely distributed. This notice reads as follows: "Your name not appearing on any electoral census schedule received by me, it became, m'y duty to object to your name bsing retained on my roll. iYour statement that yon still reside in this .district is quite satisfactory, and I beg to withdraw my objection, and to inform you that your name will remain on the roll." The peculiar feature of this notice; our contemporary adds, is that the recipient (a lady), who supplied it to the paper, has made no representation to cause a withdrawal of an objection to the retention of her name on the roll—that, in fact, she has never applied to have her name placed on any roll! It has been officially stated on behalf of the Government that if necessary_ extra enrolling agents will be appointed to secure that all eligible persons shall be placed upon the roll.. This means more expense to undo the results of tho earlier costly innovation, but the expense is of small importance, unfortunately, when compared with the necessity for obtaining an honest roll. Legislation on the subject has been practically promised, and we trust that now the Estimates are through the House will insist that this matter shall be immediately dealt with. A very serious error has been made by the Government, perhaps undesignedly, and that error must be repaired. It must be borne in mind, however, that the remedy suggested—tbc appointment, _at the eleventh hour, of enrolling agents whose work cannot be checked until after the election, or at any rate until far too late for any revision of their additions to tho rolls—carries the risk of serious abuses.

If the Government, which promoted- tho electoral census without giving any good reason for doing so, really wishes to do the right thing, it will not propose the appointment of enrolling agents at all. Nothing will be easier, if they do appoint enrolling agents at the last moment, when check and revision will be impossible, than for these agents to corrupt the rolls beyond repair, cither by the erasion of names of qualified voters or by the inclusion of the names of unqualified or even non-existent persons. We. shall be able to judge 'of the bona fides of the. Government by its action in this matter. The true remedy is a very simplo one, and the natural one, namely, the wiping out of tho electoral census and all its'results. Let the electoral census bo treated as if it had never been. -It has done no good; rthas admittedly dono much harm. Every consideration—whether on the score of cost, or of trouble, or_ of electoral purity—directs that this course should be followed. It would be idle to conceal the fact that thero is a widespread feeling that the electoral census, the trouble it has caused, and the remedy suggested by tho Government, are parts of some electoral trick. AVc should be sorry to have to believe this feeling well-founded. The matter is quite urgent, and must be dealt with by the Legislature without delay. In the meantime' we can only repeat our exhortation to all electors to realise the extreme importance of making sure for themselves 'that they are placed upon the revised roll.