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New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 738, 11 May 1853, Page 3

We regard it as a duly of pressing importance to call liie attention of all who are qualified lo vote for the Superintendent, the Members of the Provincial Council, and the Representatives in the Genera! Assembly, and who have not yet taken the requisite steps to secure the insertion of their names on the Roll, lo the urgent necessity for their doing so without delay, as the period "jtbin which they can lodge their Claims Mill expire on Saturday neat, after which day no application can be received. We a re jUforined that, up to Monday evening, (he

number of Claims actually delivered at the Police OHice did not amount to one hundred for the whole of the districts for receiving the Claims of which Auckland is the officially appointed place. We own, indeed, that this number is no correct index to the number of Registration Papers that have been filled up. as il is certain that several hundreds are in the Hands of the Committees of the respective Candidates for the Superinlcndency, or otherwise in readiness for delivery. But, after making every allowance due to this consideration, we cannot but apprehend dial there are still many who, from forgetfulness of the limitation as to lime, orfrom thaldilaloriness—leading to a postponement of the matter to the latest available hour—which was strikingly shown at the former Registration, or--as we fear may be the case in some instances—from a careless or selfish indifference on the whole subject—have not, up to the present, performed the sim le and easy observance which is required in order to their possession of the right to vole. If it could be believed that the latter class—the apathetic-—was numerous, it would afford to those who doubt the fitness of the Colony for such a system of Representative Government as is conferred by the Constitution Act, an argument in support of their doubts which it would be very difficult to refute. The cry of the Colonists has been —at any rate has seemed to be—long, loud, and earnest for Free Institutions and Government by chosen Representatives of the people. An Imperial Law has granted their desire, and the power is now in the hands of the community on a principle of household suffrage, which in Ihe circumstances of this country, is practically but little removed from nnicersal suffrage. What is to besaid of those who joined in that cry, but who now so disregard the privilege for which they were formerly willing to petition and agitate, as absolutely to sutler it to slip away from them because they will not lake the trouble of accepting it / Whatever else may be said or thought of them, one of two conelnsionscan scarcely be avoided, —either that they were not sincere in their former demands, or that they did not really understand the character of the Institutions for which they professed to he so anxious. The registration of a man’s claim secures for him the right to vote, but, we need scarcely say, does not involve an absolute necessity that he should exercise that right at any particular election, —should he, lordlier reasons, determine that it is not his duly to do so. Bill there is an aspect in which men who neglect to register arc not iwcvclynegalivc offenders against the spirit of the Constitutional Art, but may be held responsible for a positive injury to their neighbours. No point is more clear in itself, or more fully agreed on In ali parlies, than the great importance to the Province of Auckland of its Inning in the Genera! Assembly a number of Representatives in some degree proportioned to its superiority amongst the six Provinces of New Zealand. The /claims of Auckland have been so far practically recognised by the Governor in determining the number of members for the respective Provinces, as that (hi. Province is to have, as its own share, nearly one third of the total number of which the Representative Chamber is to consist. Whether this is as much as the Province may (airly lay claim to need not at present be discussed; the point to which wc desire to direct immediate attention is, that, by the 07ih section of the Constitution Act, extensive powers are given to the General Assembly to alter Electoral districts, to increase the whole number of members of the House of Representative's, and to appoint the number to be chosen for the Electoral districts. Stranger things have happened than that an attempt should be made by the southern Representatives to effect changes the issue of which would be to give this Province less representation in the Assembly than has been apportioned to it by the Governor’s Proclamation. But there isa check upon the arbitrary exercise of the power given in this 07th section to be found in the principle asserted in a previous section, (the list), namely, that the number of members (o be elected for any district shall bear a regular proportion to the number of Electors within that district. Mark! the number of Eld tors , not of inhabitants — is to be the guide and rule in the determination. Now, it is most obvious that every man who, from selfish motives, or from apathy, refuses or neglects to register, is chargeable not merely with want of the active interest which ali good citizens should lake in the promotion ol the political weal of the country, but also with —so far as his numerical weight is concerned —abstracting that weight from the scale according to the preponderance* of which the question of representation in the General Assembly will in a great measure be decided. We are almost ashamed, however, to argue upon this matter as if there were many who would deliberately refuse to register. The chief danger is from the forgetfulness and spirit of procrastination to which we have alluded, and wc therefore end by again emphatically reminding all concerned that Saturday next will be the last day on which they can lodge their claims to vole.