The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5492, 2 November 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1878.

The effort which Sir Robert Douglas has made to secure the purity of the electoral roll in the Mangonni and Bay of Island Districts deserves to bo noted. We need hardly recall to the recollection of our readers the fact that in furtherance as it now appears of a deliberate policy to swamp the European electors of the North Island constituencies by means of the Maori vote, a trick was played in June last by which more than four hundred bogus native electors were got on the European roll of the Bay of Islands District. The claims of these natives to vote were objected to in the usual course by tho Registration and Returning Officer of tho district, Mr. E. W. Williams, and tho objections wore appointed to be hoard before the Revising Officer, Mr. Laavlob, on the otli Juno, at Kororarika. Mr. Tolu, a solicitor residing in Auckland, who is also a member of tho House of Representatives, and a strong supporter of Sir George Grey's Government, was employed on tho part} of the claimants.

At the immediate instance of Mr. Tole, as the Parliamentary paper which we published a few days ago showed, Mr. Williams was suddenly dismissed fx;om his office on the day before the sitting of the Revising Officer’s Conrt. - Mr. Tole, who appears to have procured this dismissal, pleaded the fact in Court in bar of the objections made by the Registration and Returning Officer, Having been dismissed, Mr. Williams cauld not appear in Court in his official character, and thereupon, the Revising Officer improperly admitting Mr. Tolb’s plea, 400 bogus Maori votes are now on the roll of the district. We observe that Mr. Tole is reported to have said in the House on Thursday that we have “ slandered ” him in regard to this business. We have never stated anything more than the facts as shown in the published papers, and if Mr. Tole conceives that he is slandered thereby he will have to endure a good deal more of it, for wo have a firm resolve to see this monstrous public wrong redressed before we cease to write about it. Mr. Tole and all concerned may rely upon that. The report of the Native Affairs Committeehavingadroitly shelved the inconvenient question for the moment, Sir Robert Douglas had leave to introduce a Bill, the object of which, as set out in the second clause, was to impose upon the person now holding the appointment of Registration and Returning Officer in the district the duty of renewing at the proper time the objections which had boon evaded as described, in order that these objections may be heard and determined at the next sitting of the Revision Court at the Bay of Islands. The Bill was finally withdrawn, but not, we are glad to say, until after Mr. Swanson, Mr. Hobbs - , and Mr. Macfarlane, all Auckland men, and all heretofore supporters of the Government, had expressed opinions which, wo think, will secure the immediate attention of Ministers to the recommendation of the Native Affairs Committee. The recommendation is that there shall bo enquiry by a special Commission on the spot into the allegations of the native petitioners who are now unconsciously electors, that no claims to vote were made by them. This is, however, but one branch of the subject, and we hope that the enquiry will not be limited to it. We concur in the opinions expressed as to the special fitness of Mr. Bryce for such an office, and shall be glad to see it entrusted to him without delay. We have seen, however, that the project of operating bn the European constituency by means of the Maori vote is the policy of the present Government, and in that view their performance at the Bay of Islands takes the broad aspect of a colonial question affecting our whole representative system. If Sir George GREYjoan corrupt the electoral rolls in other electoral districts as has been done at the Bay of Islands, the freedom of the people is in danger, and the question ceases to be merely local. No doubt in the North the “ white men,” as they call themselves, who are immediately interested will not be wanting in exertion at the proper time; and if the Government should forget, as they not improbably may, to do what they have promised, it will be competent for the “ white men” themselves to put the law in motion and to purge their electoral roll. The process, where there are so many obj actions necessarily to be made and published, will be an expensive one; the cost of Mr. Williams’ notice in the Wangarei newspaper alone must have been very considerably more than £IOO. In addition, there must be professional charges, so that the burden of defending their liberties against the action of the present Government will be heavy. We do not doubt that the expense will bo cheerfully shared by every man throughout tho length and breadth of the colony who values Representative Institutions, and who would preserve that purity and fairness of election upon which alone such institutions can be safely based. A very small money contribution, generally made throughout the Colony, would beat once an expression of the public sentiment, and give tho moans for obtaining the desired result.