The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5443, 6 September 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1878.

Fueling assured that a Government which so ardently desires that the liberties of the people shall bo conserved wiU be obliged to us for concurrence and aid in the accomplishment of that work, wo desire to keep the electoral scandal of tho Bay of Islands District persistently before the public. Purity of election is the groat security for rational freedom. It tho source be polluted, tho stream cannot bo pure. If the electoral roil of tho colony be corrupted, the members elected under it may bo “patriots,” but cannot be true representatives of a people who are not “ patriots,” but only loyal subjects, and orderly and industrious colonists, laboring honestly to promote their own interests whilst they are buildling up a now nation. Four hundred Maori voters have been placed this year upon tho electoral roll of the Mangonui and Bay of Islands District; and thus the European electors have been completely swamped. The claims of Maoris to be placed upon the electoral roll upon the qualification of an unascertained interest in tribal lands have been heard in open Court, and have been rejected by the Revising Officer in this very Bay of Islands District upon a former occasion, so that no doubt could exist as to their character or validity. Nevertheless, those claims have got admitted, and tho men who were judicially declared to have no electoral qualification are now electors, their condition having in no respect changed. It is not the least remarkable part of this very remarkable operation that the judge, the Revising Officer, was the same person on both occasions, and that having first judicially pronounced against theclaims as invalid in law, Mr. Lawlor was able to admit the claimants to the privilege of tho franchise. In this operation, Mr. T.awt,or was assisted by the Government, who, on the day before the sitting of the Revising Court, dismissed the Registration and Returning Officer of the District, Mr. E. M. Williams; as he could not then appear in the Revising Court to sustain the objections to the Maori claims, which, as required by law he had made in his official character, all the'olaims, over four hundred in number, were admitted, and the names of the natives are now inscribed on tho electoral roll of the district as duly qualified electors.

A month ago we printed a petition from a number of natives at Whangaroa, whose names appeared amongst the list of new electors very much to their own surprise, as they had not made auy claims at all. This petition, with another of the same character, was presented to the House of Representatives, and referred in duo course to the Native Affairs Committee. We reprint the petition : Whangaroa, To Maori, July IS. 1873. To tho Speaker anil Members of the House of Eepresentatives of Xew Zealand. Salutations to you. This potition from us to you is to ask you to look into tho troubles which afflict us here in the North, that is in tho district of Bay of Islands, Whangaroa, and Mangonul. This is tho trouble, viz., the making u? of an electoral roll for the year 1878. In tho opinion of us, your petitioners, that roll was not made up quite right in accordance with tho former laws. This work has been dono by & European living at Hokianga, and wo, your petitioner, think that the Government backed him up, Inasmuch as tho lawyer whom he employed on the day on which the (’Revision) Court sat in the matter of the roll at Kororareka was a member of Parliament and a supporter of the Government. For these reasons your petitioners ask that during tho present meeting of Parliament a law may bo pajsed to make matters clear between the two races. Wo also desire that the voting of Europeans and Maoris should be separate. .Let the Europeans vote for their member only, and let the Maoris vote for their member only, Put an end. to the double vote which the Maoris possess. If you will pass a law in this direction the trouole will cease, and the two Maori peopies become one, We pray yon to cause the number of Maori members of* Parliament to bo increased for the reasons above set forth. . , „ , . L Friends, tho Government, and the Speaker, salutations to you and tho Assembly. This is our word: We have seen that this roll is wrong. It was unauthorised (“pokanoa.") IVc were said lobe at Hokianga* We did not sec it. Wo therefore ask to look into that matter and tho others herein referred to that is in this petition which wo address to tho Speaker of the House of Representatives. Hsuemia tbAra, And 4S others of Ngatinru IXapn. *Note.—This part in italics is obscure in the original. lam not quite sure about it.

The inquiry line! no doubt considerable interest for Ministers, and secured their attention to the work of the committee. After due consideration the following report was agreed to,* and was presented to the House of Representatives on Tuesdaylast. Native Affairs Committee. Report on the petition of Horemla To Ara and 3 others, and Wiremu Kateno and 43 others. These petitions refer to an - alleged impropriety In making np the electoral roll for the Biv of Islands. They pray that the system of allowing Maoris to vote for European members in the Assembly should bo increased, I am directed to report as follows'That in the opinion of the committee the Government was Justified in requiring Mr. B. Williams, the brother of Mr. J. Williams, H.H.R.. to resign his position of Registration and Returning Officer for the electorate which bis brother, Mr. J. William*, represents in this House, and that la similar cases a similar course should be pursued. That the Government should without delay and, if possible, during the present session take steps to cause an inquiry within the district by Royal Commission into the charges made In the petition of alleged improper practices in the making of' claims to ▼ote for the electorate of the Bay of Islands. That such commission should bo com posed of persons not being officers of the Government, residents, or owners of property In the district, or having the right to vote therein. With reference to so much of the petition as relates to dual voting, the committee consider it unnecessary to make any recommendation, as the whole question is now under the consideration of the House. (Signed) John Bryce, Chairman. The petitioners resident at Whangaroa say that their names were used as claimants by a European resident at Hokianga; that they wore not there, and “ did not see it.” The claims to vote made in the names of these men, if their statement be true, were false claims, and the signatures forgeries. This the Native Affairs Committee appear to regard as an. “impropriety;” the committee are also of opinion that the Government were justified in dismissing Mr. E. M. Williams, because ho happened to be a brother of the member of the House of Representatives for the district ; they also think “ that in similar “cases a similar course should be pur- “ sued.” Being the brother of a member who habitually goes into the wrong lobby may be a sufficient disqualification for a Registration and Returning Officer in the eyes of the Native Affairs Committee as of the Government, but we hope that the recommendation about the adeption of a “similar course ” does not extend to the dismissal of such an officer on the eve of thesittingof a Revision Court in orderthat ho might be prevented from prosecuting objections to bogus claims which, in his official capacity, it was his duty as defined by law to make. This is really the wrong; and it is inflicted not upon Mr. Williams alone but upon the bona fide electors of the district. We hope that no delay will be allowed to take place in the appointment of the Royal Commission, and, as the facts lie in a nutshell, the report may be laid before the House in a very short time. In case of a dissolution, the European electors of the Bay of Islands and Mangonui would have just cause for the complaint that they have been practically disfranchised or deprived of their electoral privileges by the action of the Government.