EXTENSION OF THE FRANCHISE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5422, 13 August 1878, Page 2

EXTENSION OF THE FRANCHISE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. SIH, —Assuming for the moment that the Electoral Bill in its present form will be carried without material alteration, it may be interesting to glance at the effect of manhood suffrage in other countries. It is now an acknowledged fact that by careful party organisation the voice of the minority can be completely excluded under the present system, the one exception being in a triangular form of representation to a borough or county being granted, by allowing it to return three members. The minority is thereby enabled to return one member. Not to mention the fact that the Victorian Assembly has become notorious under manhood suffrage, in New York it is equally well known that the Irish vote rules every election. It is unnecessary to attempt to explain how little capable this party is of exercising a sound judgment in the matter; suffice it to remark that Tweed frauds, Erie Railway scandals, and Tammany Ring rascalities, do not seem to recommend that form of government. Tho plebiscite that returned Napoleon 111. as Emperor (though taken after the event) shows how littlo universal suffrage is really removed from despotism. I suppose that no well-informed unbiassed person can approve of the recent remonitisatiou of silver in America, which has been denounoed by nearly all Europe. Eorced by a strong and popular majority through both Houses, against the protest and veto of the President, it is but little short of a direct fraud on all holders of United States bonds or debentures. , ~ . In the town of Birmingham the Radical party has succeeded in depriving the powerful and numerous minority within its walls from any voice in its council, and was recently the advocate of “a peace at any price” policy that well nigh plunged England into war. For, as one man making an uproar in a street draws mope attention than twenty quiet bystanders, so tho noisy aud violent denunciation of war by tho peace party is believed to have encouraged the belief in Russia that war was only talked of, not intended by Great Britain. The lavish expenditure iu the City of New York in the past with but small results to show for tlfo same, the extraordinary expenditure on tho Paris Exhibition at present by a Government chosen by universal suffrage, forbid tho hope that a more economical system

will arise under it. A loss of some millions is anticipated in connection with the Paris Exhibition. The low morale of American public life has been attributed to the fact that the pay to the officers In the Civil Service is so small that peculation is winked at, if not encouraged. The low tone of the debates, in which motives of personal and pecuniary gain are constantly attributed, and are at times proved to be well founded, has virtually excluded the most able and disinterested men from the political arena. It is hard to predict the effect of manhood suffrage in this colony, but if ever such questions as the severance of the colony from the mother country, the alteration of the basis of land tenure, or any similar great changes, are discussed, our Constitution may be stirred to its depths. It is hardly necessary for me to assume the inti*oductxou of the female vote into the discussion, as one of your contemporaries has done in a recent issue. When the gentler sex takes part in the elections, it is but one step removed from taking part in debates, in which case let us pray that all babies may be left in the lobby. My review, air, has not presented a very hopeful feature for the colonial Legislature. With a really sound system of education the danger may be removed in time; in the interval it will continue to exist. A felon or a criminal appears to be entitled to vote five minutes after his release from a six months’ imprisonment.—X am, &c., Y. Wellington, August 12.