Representation Bill.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 2 April 1891, Page 2

Representation Bill.

The Wanganui Chronicle has published the following : — Some particulars of the new Representation Bill to be introduced by the Premier next session have been telegraphed to a Southern paper by a correspondent who appears in the confidence of the Ministry. The new Bill is said to be a bulky measure, consolidating all the laws on the subjects of electoral qualification, registration of electors, Maori representatives, and regulation of elections. The correspondent says that the "electoral right" system will not be adopted, as this is considered likely to prove an obstacle to free registration. The old method will be retained with improvements. After every census the redistribution Commissioners will he required to make the necessary redistribution without delay, and the electoral rolls will be immediately revised in accordance with the Commissioner's report ; but those rolls, as at present will be used only at the next general election, and not at a bye election in the interim for obvious reasons. A quarterly revision of the electoral rolls will take place before the local Resident Magistrate, who will be specially charged with the duty of holding Courts for the purpose, and who will be required also to hold a Special Revision Court after every general election for an important purpose, to be mentioned later. The local Registrars of Births and Deaths will be required to report to the Registrars of Electors all deaths registered in their district, and the Registrars of Electors will be required to at once expunge from th« . roll the names of persons whose decease is thus reported to them. The police will report cases of absence from the colony or removal from districts which come under their notice and the rolls will be amended accordingly, notice having first been sent to the elector concerned, whose failure to reply will cause judgment to go against him by default. One of the important new provisions is that twelve months' continuous aJbsence from the colony shall preclude the retention of such absentee's name on the roll. His absence being satisfactorily proved, his »ame will be struck off, and ifJae desire it to be replaced he must^egfeier again in the ordinary way. A second new provision is that a penalty will be imposed for negligence to record a rate at a general election. The

penalty (according to the correspondent) will not be that of corporal deatn, as in ancient Greece, but d quasi-political death, viz., disfranchisement pro tern. The name oi every elector who shall not have voted at the general election will be expunged from the roll at the special Revision Court held immediately thereafter and already referred to, but the disfranchised elector may at once apply for re-registration in the usual way. Persons already registered on two or more rolls when the Act comes into force, will have to choose upon which roll their name Bhall be retained, only one being permitted. The Government do not propose to deal with the question of corrupt practice prevention, and neither do they propose to entertain any proposal for the adoption of the Hare System of election, to which they are said to be strongly opposed.