REVISING OFFICER'S COURT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 698, 16 July 1859, Page 5

REVISING OFFICER'S COURT.

This court opened on Tuesday, the 14th instant, at the Supreme Court offices, Christchurch. The Revising Officer, C. A Calvert; Esq., began by offering a few observations on the imperfect state of the rolls, as submitted to him; arising out of no fault of the registration officers, but through imperfect compliance by the electors with Section 24 of Sir G. Grey's General Regulations, which required a claimant to state " his place of abode, calling or business" and " the qualification in respect whereof the claim should-; be made." Claimants had been misled to suppose that by putting " freeholder," " leaseholder," or " householder" as the case might be, they complied sufficiently with the last requisition. The registration officers, therefore, in preparing the new lists from the old, could only furnish the particulars as there given; while the Registration of Electors Act, 1858, required, in addition to the nature of the qualification, the place where his property might be situate, and the name or description ofthesaine. Sec. 22 of the act provided, amongst other things, that, wherever the local or other description of the property should be wholly omitted or insufficiently described, the revising officer should expunge the name of the claimant, unless the matter so omitted or insufficiently described should be supplied to the satisfaction of such revising officer, before he should have completed the revision of such list of voters The revising officer expressed a wish to facilitate by every means in his power the correction of the errors so inadvertently made, and with that view would sit from ten a.m. to two p.m. and from three to six p.ni., every day he- could; spare, until and inclusive of Saturday, July 30, the last day allowed by law, attending to each voter in turn,, preference being given merely to those coming from a distance.

His Honor the Judge and many other gentlemen attended the Court during, the day to see that their claims were properly entered. We may state that on the Revising Officer looking over the rolls, it transpired that not more than one hundred claims in the Christchurch country districts were properly entered, leaving nearly 1000 which would require redescription; nor in Lyttelton were there more than thirty names on the roll which would hold good.

The Court sat again on Thursday, when the attendance was very numerous; but in more than one instance the Revising Officer expressed his great regret at being compelled to strike from the roll some of the most best known, through insufficient or erroneous description of claims.