THE STANDARD. SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1873.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 61, 14 June 1873, Page 2

THE STANDARD.

SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1873.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: M e shall defer to no man justice or right.”

We certainly cannot compliment the General Government on the manner in which it has permitted its officers to treat this district during the Registration months of this year; nor upon the apparent disregard that seems to be paid to our interests and behests. We make tfce complaint qualified sense, in as much as, so far as the General Government is concerned, we have some hope of redress, when the shortcomings of its officers are made known ; but it is only through the former, as a medium, that we can get at the latter: that channel is the only means we have through which we can communicate effectively.

It had already been recommended to the Government that, in order to secure a more complete roll of votes, it would have been conducive to that end if a local officer had been appointed in this district, charged with the security of all the papers coming through his hands. The Government refused to comply with that recommendation; and, instead, sent a notice to this journal on the 2GM of March, with a request that we should inform our readers that registration papers would be received by the Registration Officer at Napier iip to the 31st .of March. The Government may have'its own excuse for this conduct, but it is very embarrassing in its results ; for with all the acknowledged inaccuracies and insecurity of the postal service, what guarantee have we that the papers have ever reached their

destination ? Simply, nonel The Rej, of Plenty Times has brought our attention to this matter by a statement, in its columns, that, even in the short distance between Tauranga and Maketu, the miscarriage of registration papers is a positive aud ascertained fact! Can anything be inure trifling ? Could anything more successfully parody the sacred rights and glprious privileges (as some have it) of the franchise ? We have another count against the Government, that is, in fact, against the Registration and Revising Officers, on the score of insufficient circulation in this districtof certain things required by theßegistration of Electors Act.” There is a list of voters, who have sent in new claims, suspended in the Resident Magistrate’s Court at Gisborne; this document was furnished to Dr. Nesbitt in due course, which is correct; but to our surprise we find the whole list advertised in the Bay of Plenty Times. Now there are two or three things that present themselves for consideration : — Firstly. We are aware that the Act does not provide for the publishing of the names of those who merely claim to register their votes. Secondly. We are disinclined to the belief that the Times has published, gratis, from patriotic motives, the list, over five columns in length, of those who have registered iii the district of Poverty Bay. Thirdly. If it be right to incur the expense, why was not the same course adopted with us ? If it be wrong, who’s to pay the little bill'?

But the Act does provide for the publication of the names of those who are objected to during the month of April. Of course there may have been no objection made against votes in this district, but that is hardly likely. The Act is explicit on the point that such list shall “ be published in one or more “ newspapers having circulation within “ the district.” Assuming that objections have been made, we say again, advisedly, lhat if the list has been published at one end of the district only, we have good cause for complaint. The Act also proceeds, imperatively ordering that the Revising Officer shall hold an open Court “ within or without” the district, (to revise the lists sent to him by the Registration Officer) before the -first of July, and that he “ shall “ give at least fifteen days’ notice in “ one or more, newspapers, as he shall “ deem best to give full publicity to

“ the same.” The Revising Officer has given notice in the Bay of Plenty Times of a Court to be held at Tauranya on Tuesday next, the 17th inst. He has not seen fit to notify the same in our columns ; and we pledge ourselves to the fact that there are not a dozen persons in the Bay who know that the Court is to be held at all. And of what political or other use is it to have a Revision Court held some 300 miles away from those who are most interested in its proceedings ? The Government can hardly be aware of this state of things. The Government cannot know that, practically, the ‘■Registration of Electors Act” has been rendered inoperative with us. Poverty Bay claimants may be on the roll, and they may not be. Any one objected to is not compelled to appear in person ; but if the Revising Officer considers the objection a good one, the chances are disfranchisement! He has no chance of defence, and there’s no redress. With a Court held at such a distance, a claimant who may have made an inaccuracy in his paper, is debarred, from making the requisite alteration to legalise the claim, while the Revising Officer, in this instance, at any rate, may act in the assumption of an arbitrary power which the Act does not give, and the Legislature never contemplated being conferred. We earnestly ask the Government to look into the matter.