WANGANUI.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 308, 30 March 1878, Page 2

WANGANUI.

(from otjr own CORRESPONDED,) Register! Register! Register! X cannot begin this letter with better advice. < The day on which this will appear in the Mail is the last available opportunity, and I hope that all your readers are aware of the importance of the duty. It they want to have a voice in the affairs of government—and who is not ambitious in that respect, and, I may add, laudably so—let them see to it that their claims are placed on record, and duly forwarded. I consider that at no previous period of the history of the , colony . has the necessity for registration made itself more apparent. The session will probably open in July, when the Government will bring down certain proposals, upon which they have expressed their definite intention of standing or falling; the latter will most probably be the issue. Then may corne a dissolution and ah appeal to the country, and then will every man having any stake in the country feel it to his interest, to be able to claim his right to vote. Those who have neglected to take the necessary preliminary steps will then, when too late, regret their neglect. Although' '■ two : separate 1 parties have' ' ' taken it in hand to hunt up and forward claims to vote hitherto not entered on. the Wanganui Electoral Roll, notwithstanding such extra exertions, I venture to say that still the roll will be short of M a great number of names which ought to * be there, I confess I cannot understand such Very reprehensible indifference in such an all-important matter, and at a juncture when the political prospects of the times are fraught ,with such signifi- . cance. If ray present appeal will have brought three repentant defaulters forward, it will not have been in vain, Manhood suffrage is not yet, but When the qualification is so moderate, should not every holder be represented ? I was urging Upon a lately married youth 1 the importance of registering his. vote, now that he had increased his social responsibilities, but be made me the most singular reply, by way of explanation of his refusal to register his claim, which I think I have ever heard before, “ Well, you see,” said he, “ I hare never been requested yet, and have never been bothered with serving on juries, or any of that kind of nuisance. If I was on the roll, I might be liable to be taken on any and every affair of that nature, both in town and in country where I am travelling. No, I would rather not.” The charming innocence of this logic fairly upset my gravity. As if a bobby in search of a coroner’s jury, would peruse the electoral roll for the names of those properly qualified ! And I hear from a person who has been. hunting up backward people in the matter of registration, that he has been met by a good many refusals, one cause and another being assigned for their declining, but all equally illogical and fallacious. Fancy such political lifelessness. All modern great nations have been aware of the incalculable importance of the question, and yet in a country like this, so few appear to care a jot about it. To have to be urged and entreated to entitle- themselves to have a voice in the administration of public affairs ! Is it not incredible ? “ What is, is good,” appears ' to be their motto, while the line of conduct they thoughtlessly pursue, is in effect a tacit admission of the correctness of the theory so often urged, that we are governed as well as we deserve. That Marah.an railway station imbroglio is coming to a head, and Mr Pharazjn does not come clean out of it so, far. The memorial is now published of the owners and occupiers of land in the neighbourhood of Nukumaru, praying the Government to reconsider the selection made and to appoint some site that is not “ inconvenient for the requirements of the surrounding country through which the line passes, and at present inaccessible by any public road,” as Marahan is alleged to be. The ■ memorialists express their opinion that “ sufficient care has not been taken in making the selection, or that it has been made for other considerations than the benefit of the public.” A good deal is embodied in this latter clause. I regret for Mr Piiarazyn’s sake, whom I know and respect, that matters have assumed this phase. An inquiry is bound to be instituted, and as those at the head of affairs at present are not friendly disposed towards Mr P. there will -probably, be no station at Marahan. This is generally known as the great natural law of compensation, my dear boy, by which it is ordained that if you pull my nose noir, at some future time I am permitted an opportunity of pulling yours. Tit for tat, you know, and turn about .is fair play, applies as much to politics as to sharp mercantile, dealing, love, or war.