ELECTORAL ACTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 59, 9 March 1880, Page 1

ELECTORAL ACTS.

hand, he considers proof of tha -correctness of the particulars neceasary he must give notice to the claimant in writing, setting forth the particulars of which proof is required. If the claimant satisfy the Registrar bb to proof, bis name is to be added to the roll, but if otherwise, and the claimant does not, within ten days, withdraw his claim, then the Registrar shall apply for a summons, and the case shall be heard by a Resident Magistrate. Parties may be heard by counsel or agent, and in the case of non-ap-pearance of either, the verdict will he given against the absentee, but if the case proceeds the onus of |proof will lie on the claimant, and the court may, at its discretion, award costs to either party. Objections may be made either by the Registrar or by an elector, and if the party objected to does not within fifteen days cause his name to be erased (from the roll, the case shall bo brought by the Registrar before the Resident Magistrate's Court for adjudication, a deposit of one pound as security for costs being made by the objector when other than the Registrar. Four months after the roll of any district is formed it is to be printed and kept for inspection two days in the week, at some convenient office in the district, and the names from time to time subsequently added, are to be inserted in alphabetical order. The roll will only be re-printed when not less than one hundred names have been added to it, and then only if it has not been re-printed within the proceeding twelve months. *• •*■— . {

At the present time of the year, ever fiince the late Registration Act became law, it has been the custom with newspapers to urge upon electors the necesity which existed for sending in claims to have their names placed on the Electoral Koll for the district in which they reside. The legislation of last session has obviated this duty on the part of editors, and gives plenty of time to persons ;to register their names. Under the new Qualification of Electors Act two qualifications to vote are given for others than members of the Native race, viz., the freehold and the residential qualification. Under the former, adult males only can be registered, and they must also posses? a freehold property; to the total value of no less than £25, whether it be subject to legal encumbrances or not. This property the adlut male in question must have held, either in law or in equity, for six months at least before proffering a claim to become a voter. The second clause is the residental one. It makes it incumbent upon those desiring the privilege of the franchise that they shall be of no less an age than 21 years ; that they shall bave been residents for at least one year in the colony and at least six months in the electoral district for ■which they claim to become votets, dear of the date at which they rsquest to be registered. The Nation qualification is then touched upon by the Act. The latter enacts that every male adult Maori whose name is on a ratepayers' roll in force in any electoral district in respect of which he claims to vote, or who owns " in severalty " a freehold estate of the value of £25, is entitled to be registered as an elector. The next electoral enactment of the session of 1879 is the Registration 'of Electors Act. For a summary of its provisions we are endebted to the Waikato Times-. — "Under the new Act a person qualified to vote may register at any time during the year. So too in the case of objections. Under the old Act, objections could only be reI reived during' the month of April, and the vote, once printed, Btood good until the next year's roll came into force. i Any one whose name appeared on the roll, though he might have ceased to be duly qualified to vote could nevertheless demand to do so. The fact that his name was there was sufficient proof, and it could not be removed until the next year's roll was made up. Now the Registrar will be able to amend the roll, from day to day, but no name can be removed from any roll either by the Registrar, on his own authority, or by the request of the elector desiring his name to be removed after the issue of a writ for th 9 election of a member for 3ucn district until the completion of | such election. The case referred to of t electors desiring to have their own primes removed is where a voter, regie- \ r (fared under the reeidental clause, leaves ihe district in which he is enrolled for '"ju-ine other. Non-residence would bar hil£ power to vote in the district he had left, and he is therefore allowed to j^sqafer his name to the roll of tha disj v/SOt to which he changes his residence. i'ihd Registrar is to be a paid officer, ) and. clearly cannot, as heretofore, be Magistrate of the district, \"S? in cbbos of dispute between *Q A r spts to vote or objectos and the HY.v.: ,|*t it is to the Resident Magtape Yar ' our t the appeal is made. It ) mP 3 the Registrar's duty in the flrat ...BU.TrTS to prepare the new rolls from L^*r *• ?n existence, and to make them as > / ''Sic as possible, bat it will rest ;p ;;a She public themselves to ensute V^'^j^eir, names are placed upon the 5 — :uS applying in the form or to the VT> ,i ..".get forth in the second schedule W /Act. Such olaim and declaration > . .^delivered 'to the Registrar or sent sfj» hi® through ihe post. The provißipn ♦ rJained in the Electoral Bill as ! sied by the late Government, J airing personal attendance, and fijs- ! iJ I ; fee of two shillings for such regjs!t||tioc, was abandoned by the present dddverament when they took up the j&ne&Bure of their predecesßora. On ! receiving an application from a claimant. [to have his name placed on the roll, the j Registrar must, within fifteen days, Itaake enquiries as to the truth of- the of Buch claim, and, ;if of their correctness, at the end of the fifteen days add the applicant's iname to the roll. If, on the other