The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 9, 1877

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 160, 9 July 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 9, 1877

Tue judgment renorted by us on Friday last to have been delivered by his Honor the Chief Justice, in which he reversed the decision of the Revising Oftlcer in a certain case that recently occurred at Pieton, is one of considerable interest, not only to the individual concerned, or to the locality in which he resides, but to the colony at large, imperilling as it does the right of everyone in the country to have his name retained on the electoral roll. The circumstances under which the decision was given and the appeal raised (successfully as it has since proved) were as follows :— One Mr. John Godfrey took upon himself to lodge in awholesale manner objections to those who claimed the franchise in Marlborough. In the particular instance referred to the claimant was one whose name had been on the roll for a number of years, and the Revising Officer, accepting this fact as a prima facie proof that his claim was a sufficiently valid one, caused the oath to be administered to Mr. Godfrey, and then required him to state the grounds of his objection. The reply was that he was not aware of auy good objection, and that if he had been he should not state it, as it rested with the claimant to show that he was entitled to a vote. In this he was overruled by the Revising Officer, who allowed the name to be retained on the roll on the ground that the burden of proof lay with the objector, and that it was not for the claimant to show why he should not be struck off. This is thedecision that has been reversed by the Chief Justice. Now, accepting the judgment as a correct one, let us see what the effect might be. Supposing that at the time the rolls are made up (say in Nelson), some mischievouslydisposed man of straw should appear upon the scene and take upon himself to raise objections to half, or it might be, to all of those who claimed to be registered. Some, perhaps, might be unavoidably absent at the time of. the holding of the Revision Court, and others, conscious that they possessed the right to the privilege they claimed and knowing that the reverse could not possibly be proved, would not aitend the Court. The objector, however, appears, states that he does object, without giving any reason why, and insists upon the names being struck out. AccordSi fc u e Chief Justi ce's ruling, the Revising Officer has no alternative but to decide that the claim ia invalid, aud to strike his pen through the name. One man may thus succeed in unjustly depriving hundreds of their right to vote. It ia true that there e-riats

what may';a|^ea£t.p ija^a safeguard against my systematidp^eiedlng of -this kind on s^ large scalp in the fact thatj ie the event o^ ■.he obiection being c piioved to be without? V foundation, costs may^ be allowed to the cl^imaut, but.whajt satisfaction would therel:.°f v™ '-, f- bJ 9* itW*Uwe.7have supposed, loj ' claimant should mtfM&ke man of straw? di" even if he were in a position to pay the cost awarded by the Court why should he bo peifl mitted to cause what might prove to be very great inconvenience to the individual who has made his claim in.perfect bona fides, aad knowing full wfell| thalThe£\?&s entitled l# ' 'la^^.that'.wl^ich.h&'Jemahled? We arsJ not taking upon ourselves to question the correctness of the Chief (Justice's reading of .frsJasv.cf which.he-is of course-a,£ar betterand more reliable exponent than we can pretend to^be but wefdo^say is that r - if be is right, the scofeer the leiw ; fs amended the ' better. It is perfectly monstrous tha^such facilities sioulcTba siffibrded" to evil disposed persons to annoy and inconvenience their . neighbors and tQ-deprive-theia^f-their electoral rights, ai(d ii! i^hig&, fcifne ; that th\ Legislature shoata jstep'Jfn ahd AUk atop to) th-itiivilsHvhic&'l-M-irditfgiiO 7 the-Chief Jus J. tice, they have created. If this be not done, Johp^Godfreys -ffiiiVaf te,r. tha, recent judg.ment,b6 springing !up all 'over /the colonßii Heaven forbid that if; should be ib.' ••& ; ,: ■ -. ■ ra