THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 8, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1385, 8 January 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 8, 1873.

If the inhabitants of the Grey Valley who are resident in Weatland are debarred from taking any personal action in the election of their Chief Magistrate, those who are resident in Nelson Province may -o4— l<xw>V enjoy— tfa© privilege Of electing theirs— if they are but true to themselves and to the interests of their district. And the present is emphatically the time to make that election sure. It is not when the writ is issued, and the polling clerks are appointed, that the inhabitants should bestir themselves, but now, and during the not very long interval to elapse before the election takes place. In the past they have, by possibly unavoidable circumstances, been indebted to the inhabitants of Nelson city and its suburbs for the election of their Superintendent. It is now time to exchange the compliment, and the compliment cannot be paid properly without some preliminary preparation. If the West Coast is on this occasion to give a,Siinai;mtftnJent. V> JMnnn. or in poincide with Nelson s oest choice, neither can be consummated by the mere fact of a population existing and having particular opinions ; they must reduce themselves to the condition of the canine race, and be — registered. Hitherto there has been much neglect in this matter, both on the part of the Government in adopting the old-fashioned English system of registration, and on the part of the population in adopting the system of " how not to do it." Whatever has been done towards placing the names of persons on the registration-roll has been done by some solitary enthusiast, or some '•good-natured friend" or printer. The effect has been to maintain the roll as a mere skeleton representation of the population competent to vote, and, with a Superintendent elected elsewhere, the skeleton has been continued in the form of an attenuated expenditure on local public works. If there is any spirit left in the community, this state of things should not be allowed to continue. It will not do to be perpetually illustrating the proverb that "what is everybody's business is nobody's business." Those who have spoken, written, and petitioned against grievances will have to consider themselves nobodies in tactics if they do not now combine to act so as to have placed on the roll the name of every man possessing a freehold, leasehold, or household qualification. Their secluded situation, supplemented by their indifference, prevents many men from procuring their registration, but by organisation and activity, they and others can be reached, and with all, or nearly all, the eligible residents of the Coast counted as voters, we have reason to|believe that they would even outvote any Nelson candidate, but 1 , if it were not desirable to do so, they could at least materially alter the complexion of any election. Any organisation with this object need only be a simple one. In each centra of population, thoae of the inhabitants who take an interest in matters political should constitute themselves committees, and having obtained forms of registration — the cost of which would be nothing, or next to nothing — should either jointly or individually aid in procuring the placing of every unregistered and eligible person's name upon the roll. The principle upon which to start is, for each one to do something, and if every storekeeper had a few forms on his counter, every traveller a few in his pocket, and the " politician " of every mining camp a few in his "locker," and if all this is done early, the work would be done, and done well. Delay is dangerous, as many would-be elector has realised on the polling-morn-ing of an election, and, although the opportunity for registration does not cease until the 31st of March, it would be a suitable and by no means premature beginning of the political work of the year to commence at once a registration campaign.