THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1487, 10 May 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1873.

In again referring to the important subject of the approaching revision of the Electoral Roll of the Colony, we do so in the firm belief that our opinion, as expressed in a recent issue, with respect to the objections made wholesale to any augmentation of the roll are fully endorsed by the majority of the inhabitants of the country districts, "as well as by those in this immediate iocality. The number and frivolous nature of the objections made to claims sent from the mining centres, prove at once that some influence is at work other than a patriotic and laudable desire to preserve the purity of the franchise i intact. The fact of the Registration Officer departing from the custom usually observed in other places, and taking such an extraordinary personal interest in seeing that the Electoral Roll shall not be contaminated by the admission of the names of persons whose claim to have a vote is based upon the possession of such a vulgar qualification as a "hut in a back gully," shows that an amount of underhand pressure and silent activity is in exercise, requiring all the energy and watchfulness which can be brought into operation to counteract them. At Hokitika and elsewhere the objections are to be made at the Revision Court by individuals, whose trade it is to see to these matters, and who make it their business, as electioneering agents, to keep certain names off the roll for political purposes, or from party motives. This being the case, these " permanent objectors " have a pecuniary interest in ferreting nut doubtful or informal claims, and making objection to the names of claimants going on the roll in a surreptitious manner. But the Objector-General in this district can have no such interest or motive in opposing claims made by persons of whom, or their qualifications, he cannot personally have any knowledge, and the inference is, that the Registration Officer in making this formidable array of objections i 3 acting on information supplied by persons behind the scenes, who have suddenly become aware that the almost total abolition of the Electoral Roll is necessary to the existence and perpetuation of the present condition of political affairs in the neigboring Province of Nelson. We are alluding more particularly to the almost indiscriminate objection made to claims sent in from the Grey Valley, because the Registration Officer must of necessity have depended upon information received from others as to the nature of the qualifications of claimants residing on the Nelson Gold Fields. The feeling existing in the upriver portion of the electorate may be gathered from the following allusion made to this subject by our contemporary, the Grey Valley Times, in its issue of Wednesday, the 7th iDst. : — " The list of persons in the Grey district, whose right to be retained on the Electoral Roll, of the Colony will be disputed at the forthcoming Court of Revision, has been published, and shows that nearly two hundred and fifty names will be objected to, as being unentitled to remain on the Roll. Of the list of new applicants, almost wholly residents of the Grey Valley, nearly two hundred names will be objected to on the ground of the qualification being insufficiently described. It seems plain beyond all question that some \inusual pressure has this year been brought to bear upon the revision of the roll, and whether or not this pressure has been unduly exercised, the subject is one that calls for a searching inquiry. That such a large number of persons in this district should be deprived of the franchise at the present juncture upon the plausible pretext of having failed to fnlly describe the nature and description of their qualification is a mere quibble. It is wellknown here that a large number of names were added to the roll from this district upon precisely the same form of application, and in precisely the same terms last year, as the present, and many of those names are still upon the toll, and their right to be-there hasneverbeenquestioned. We should certainly recommend that at the Revision Court the interests of applicants should be placed in the hands of a solicitor, and every legitimate claim contested." We entirely agree with our contemporary that the subject is one that calls for a searching inquiry, and the whole matter of the manipulation of the electoral rolls, colonial and provincial, as disclosed during the proceedings in connection with the recent election in the Grey Valley, point to the absolute necessity of a strict examination being instituted. The present, while the Nelson Provincial Council is in session, is a most favorable opportunity to bring forward a demand for this inquiry, only let it not resemble in its termination another " inquiry " which has recently been held on an apparently trivial, but to those affected by it, most important subject. Meantime it is imperative that energetic practical action should be taken to meet in a legal and open manner the present attempt to dis- ' franchise the most important section of our population, for if this attack upon the freedom and extension of the franchise be allowed to succeed, it will most assuredly be again repeated, when there nifty

not be the same means at command to offer a successful resistance. With respect to the objections made to the Grey Valley portion of the applicants, who are chiefly miners, it is the general opinion, that if the Gold Fields members of the Nelson Provincial Council permit this barefaced attempt to tear the f ran.(jhis§,.to _ shreds u ,witha vigor beyond the law," to pass unchallenged or without protest, they will be accounted unworthy of themselves or of the confidence of their constituents. And as far as regards the opposition made to claimants who are not resident within the boundaries of the Province of Nelson, the representative of the district in the General Assembly will, at the proper time and place, bring the whole matter under the notice of the General Government.