THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1483, 6 May 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1873.

It has been said that " a little learning is a dangerous thing," but it becomes doubly danger? us when it is combined with a little power. This was never better exemplified than by the gigantic list of objections to persons claiming to have their names placed on the electoral roll for the Grey Valley District, which we published yesterday. The whole of these objections are made by Mr W. H. Revell, Registration Officer, and a single glance at the grounds of objection, as stated by him, will convince any reasonable being, who has not yet been elevated to the dignity of a Registration Officer, that he has taken every possible frivolous objection, and strained at every point, to show his little bit of authority. But we hope tte future will. show that he has very much oversteppfed the mark. The list of objections clearly shows that Mr Revell has made an attempt (at whose instigation it is impossible to conceive, unless for his own private amusement or to show his great importance when the Revision Court is held) to reduce the voting power ol the district to a minimum, and by his objections to nearly every fresh claimant, to keep it there. He may as well have objected at once to every name on the roll, and thrown the onus of proof of qualification on every elector. It would have been an easier and cheaper mode perhaps, but in doing so he might have shown his hand and disclosed the trump card he intends to play. We venture to say that in no other electoral district in New Zealand, even in the most populous centres of population, where the qualifications of electors are continually being changed, Will so many objections to a roll be taken, or so many hair-splitting excuses given for so doing, as has been done by Mr Revell. ■ It will be seen that nearly every new claim to be placed on the roll which has been sent in from the up-country districts, has been objected to because our Registration Officer considers that " the property is insufficiently described !" With few exceptions the whole two hundred votes are objected to on that ground, and they are nearly all claims under the household qualification. Now Mr Revell in jit know by this time that it is utterly impossible to describe accurately the details of a household qualification on tho Gold Ficlcta tho same as in a town. If a miner possesses a house of the required value per annum in Nelson Creek or Callaghan's Creek it is sufficient for him to say so j as it is absurdity to expect him to state blocks and sections which do not exist, save in the imagination of the Registration Officer. It will be remembered that a few weeks ago a number of disinterested individuals in the Grey Valley, at much time and expense, travelled the district and pub over two hundred names on the roll, in order to increase the voting power of the district at a forthcoming election, and now the whole of their labor is thrown to the Winds at the caprice of a Government servant. Of course we are aware that much of this can be undone at the Revision Court which will shortly be held, but Mr Revell, and those under whose instructions he is acting, know well, that not one out of twenty of these men will 1 sacrifice his time and money to travel to Greymouth to disprove the objection which has been taken against his right to be on the roll.

We were aware that this was about to happen, and the public was fully warned of it in the letter of our up-country correspondent, published in the Weekly Argus oh the Hth of April. As the " Warning" he then gave the public has come so true, we may repeat a portion of it which runs as follows: — "Persons resident in the Grey Valley who have sent in claims to be placed upon the electoral roll must recollect that the making the claim does not, <as a matter of course, confer the right to vote. The claims will be subjected to a strict scrutiny by the Revising Officer, and the scrutiny will, this year, be more exact than it usually is. It is therefore necessary that, if possible, those who have made claims should be present to uphold them in the Revision Court. The Registration Committee in this district have reliable information that all the means at the command of the Nelson Government will be made use of to prevent any increase in the number of names on the electoral roll. The Government and its agents or tools, as the case may be, will oppose and contest every claim, and every available influence will be brought to bear to effect the object intended, namely, the disfranchisement of the people. This is no idle threat, for the unpardonable indifference of the class which is most directly concerned in augmenting the roll is favorable to the designs of the Nelson Government. And it must be remembered that in matters of this kind the most unscrupulous means are resorted to when the end to be gained is political power and influence." The truth of this warning has now been shown, and it remains with the residents to do all they can to thwart such an unprincipled attempt as this. Some strong combination must be made to represent the matter at the Revision Court, so that the majority of those objected to may be replaced on the roll. In this article we have simply drawn public attention to the subject, and intend to refer more fully to it at another time.