DISCHARGED SOLDIERS AND THE REFERENDUM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 141, 10 March 1919, Page 4

DISCHARGED SOLDIERS AND THE REFERENDUM

MEN NOT ON THE KOLL. By TeleKraph-Pre3S Association. Dunedin, March 8. The Minister of Defence received on Thursday a telegram from, the secretary of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association asking that steps be taken immediately to have the Order-iu-Council dated February 25 rescinded, ami that tlio IJrder-in-Council dated December 19, liflS, should still hold good. The telegram stated that over 300 soldiers in the Auckland district, depending on tlio December Order-in-Council, had not enrolled, and having been discharged since February 1 desired that the production of their discharge and pay-book should eiitillo them to vote at the referendum as originally decreed, and ivsked that the Order-in-Council of February 25 be rescinded. After communication with the Attor-ney-General, Sir James Allen replied that .Section 12 of the Licensing Amendment Act provided only for taking the votes of members of the Expeditionary Forces. A discharged soldier on his discharge ceased to be a member of the Expeditionary Forces, and the 'regulations could not create a special right not conferred by the section. The regulations of December 19 related, as tho recent regulations relate, only to the votes of members of tho Expeditionary Forces, and tho reinstatement of the regulations of December 19 would not enable discharged soldiers to vote. Tho law was quite eloar, and he could not act in contravention of the law. Tho Minister regretted to hear that discharged soldiers had abstained from enrolling as electors under misapprehension of the position.