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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5415, 5 August 1878, Page 2

We have upon more than one occasion of late called attention to the operation performed at the Bay of Islands some time since, by means of which four hundred Maori votes were placed on the roll of that electoral district, whereby the European electors are completely swamped. It is on record that the Premier has long been anxious to secure the return of a friend of his as a representative for the Bay of Islands and Mangonui, and had used his influence for that purpose unsuccessfully. The Parliamentary paper H 28 of 1876 will give information on this point. Attempts have ainco_ been made to get large numbers of Maoris put on the roll, but their claims have been resisted. The question of tho right of Maoris holding land in common, uudey a memorial of ownership or the ordinary native title, to be regarded as freeholders, had been decided authoritatively in the negative, after argument, 'by the Revising Officer. . In our issues of tho 11th and 13th Juno wo referred to this subject, and on the 9th July last we printed » letter from i correspondent at the North, giving the full details of the transaction, ■ which may be summarised as follows It appears that 400 native claims to vote were this year sent in to the Registration and Returning Officer for the district of the Bay of Islands and Mangonui. The qualification of these claimants was described to be-“free-hold and household.” Acting in discharge of the duty imposed upon him by law, and guided by the decision of the Revision Court as given on a former occasion, the Registration and Returning officer (Mr. Williams) made and published tho usual notice of his objections, to those claims. The Revision Court was appointed to sit at Kororareka on the sth Juno last. On tho previous day (the 4th) Mr. Williams received a telegram from the Government requiring him at once to send by telegram his resignation as Registration aud Returning Officer. This ho did. When tho Revising Officer, on the oth, called upon the objector to proceed with his objections, it was pleaded by the counsel employed for tbe claimants that as tho Registration and Returning Officer had been dismissed, tho objections of which he had given notice in his official character could not now be made by Mr. Williams. The Revising Officer accepted this view of the case, and the 400 bogus Maori votes were placed on tho electoral roll.

With respnctte Uiis transaction, a petition from certain native? resident at Whangaroa has been received by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and laid on the table. The following is the official translation :

Whangaroa, To Maori, July 15, 1878. To tho Speaker and Members of the House of Kepre soutatives of Now Zealand.

Salutations to you. This petition (rom-us to you Is to ask you to look into the troubles which afflict us here In the North, that Is In the district of Hay of Islands, Whangaroa. and MangonnH This Is the trouble, via., the making tip of an electoral roll for the year 1878. Jn the opinion of ns, your t oUlloncts, th it roll was not made up quite right in accordance with the former laws. This work has been done by a Kuropean living at Hoklanga, and v/a, your petitioners, think that the Government backed him up, inasmuch as the lawyer whom he employed on the d iy oh which the (fitevlslon) Court sat In the matter at the roll at Kororaroka was a member of Parliament and a supporter of the Government, for these reasons your petitioners ask that during the present moetingof Parliament a law may bo passed to mike matters clear between the two racis.

We also desire that the voting of Europeans and Maoris should bo separate. . Let the Europeans vote for their member only, and let the Maoris rote for their member only. Put an end to the double rote which the Maoris posses. If you will pass a law in this direction, the trouble wid cease, and the two Maori peoples become one. We pray you to cause the number of Maori members of Parliament to be Increased for the reasons aboveaet forth. , , „ . . . Friends the Government and the Speaker, salutations to you and the Assembly. This is onr word: We hare seen that this roll is wrong’. It was unauthorised (“ poksnoa.”) Jf'e were »aid to be at Hofeitnga.* We did not see it. We therefore ask to look into «hat matter and the "there .herein referred to that Is in this petition which wo address to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Hbrbhia. tb Aba. And 43 others of tfgatluru Hapu. -Mete.—This part in Italics Is obscure in the original. I am not quite sure about it. The petitioner* are amongst the 400 whoso names were put upon the roll of electors ; it appears that the privilege has been conferred upon them unconsciously, without any action on their part, and greatly to their surprise. Wo need make no comment on the fact sot out in the petition ; no doubt more will be heard of this newly discovered method of securing purity of election.