Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1893. No Direct Veto.

Manawatu Herald, 22 August 1893, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1893. No Direct Veto.

We aTe not altogether enamoured at the prospect of being -permitted to exercise, the direct veto, and ■we can therefore accept the Bill introduced by the Governrnenifwith equanimity. It is very evidrat that £f the pauses do notamd^'go.a vdifi radiea&alteratioh, there will be not the slightest qhancj pf L $ £ive&: \etp, VQtffi|»fgg obtained. This is clear upon the following grounds : — Eirst it-uS imperative that one half of the total number of electors on the roll must vote either for or against the proposals, otherwise the Returning Office 1 v is to declare the poll void. One-half of the total number of electors on a roll means that two- thirds of the residents in a district, even if not more, must be got to the pop; as j»H our rolls are notoriously stuffed with deadheads. This is exceedingly 1 difficult in a warm political election and thus the chances of getting them on a question which it is notorious the people are not so deeply interested as they are made to seem, can be

guaged.j Then supposing the 'on& : ' ■ *ha|f clothe electors on tile roll are jgqt t<£the pbll,.^ six-Hundred ont of \ evjry Ihbnsahd nlnst pol Kin favouiv > hi the veto. Jn the* -Local Bodies } Loans Act, which also requires that ' in taking a vote under its provisions the number so voting must be en- " tftieicT* To' more than one- half Tv " number, of votes which can be .exercised, it has been found exceedingly _ di fii ?11 Uto sec uro .laeir atten.d.a_ncjß a.t., » a poll, though a bare majority would car^y. the; dny. lfihis,is so, in a ; jcafeoi ifih^rf! patep,ayer,s personal interests are'so veVy^mueh concerned, it • is. easy to perceive that it will require * rnighfcy power.; to move .them on the subject of veto; Theire is just one » more point which may be rejoiced in by those who do. not relish the proposed innovation, and deplored by those who do, which is, that the direct interest which attracts settlers from outrpf-the-iway- places in the j- bush districts to vote for a ; represen--1 tative in Parliament is wholly wantf ing in the case of this poll, and when, ' as is so probable, there is not a public 3 house within thirty or forty miles of their residences, the. urgency of their having to travel miles overbad roads ' to record a.. vote will not appear so much to them as it' will to the Prohibitionists." We fg'el; }assu'r.ed that as *the ."clause i now sjiaijds in the * Bill there will not be a successful poll for Direct Veto at any of the first elections. We do not like other portions, of the Bill., which however .we. have hot space to-day to ■j dwell upon.