PURGING THE ROLL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 277, 18 July 1932, Page 6

PURGING THE ROLL

SmTLEK AJLLiEGEb JN AM.ES , - OF DEAD NATIYES ARE INCLUDED. The following letter in connection with' Maori names on the Opotiki country roll has been forwarded to the Valuer-General, Wellington, by Mr. John McDonnell, of Waiaua. The letter was ■ considered at the last meeting of the Opotiki County Council and has been handed to. the Morning Post for publication: "A considei^able number 'of deceased Maori names are printed and published on the Opotiki country roll, and shown thereon every election. From a rough calculation there are about 150. The Valuation Department, of course, is blamed for the outfit. In some cases Maori names are wrongly shown; in one case an old pensioner's name is sh'ownj, in two ridings (not a spec of land in the Bay of Plenty); he turned up on election day to exercise, two votes as important as a tin dog. :(The Maoris were given free votes, the Government paid ten per cent. of their back rates previous to 1930, and no rates were to. be chafged until after March, 1932.) "Some of the names were put on the roll ten and more years after their death. The Opotiki county authorities state they cannot remove those names. The writer claims authority should be given to counties to remove dead names off th'e roll. About four years ago, the writer (as a council ni'ember) assisted a solieitor to attempt to clear off some of those names whilst the Maori coui't was sittifig at Opotiki.] The plans were too obsolete to be of any use. I perused the Otara riding roll last week, and could find about eight names only. "I suggest that the whole Maori roll be scrapped, also that the Maori names mixed into the European roll be removed. The Valuation Department has an up-to-date list of recent survey plans. The Rotorua Native Court has the records of owners of the different blocks and partitions. The Native court sits at Opotiki twice a year, and it would be possible to clear off most of the dead names; the balance would have to be cleared up from the records at Rotorua Native Court. The success of tlie work depends on the loan of plans from the Valuation Department, a knowledge of the Maoris , their names and their land. The writer is aware it is not of much interest to the Valuation Department, whether dead. or alive Maori names are on a county roll; they pay no land tax (except the big leased blocks), pay little or no rates exeept on leased or freehold lands, which are usually held by halfcastes. In the Otara riding there are 101 Maori names on the roll. 41 of the number are dead, five are under double names, and two of th'e latter are under a third name in another riding. The following are instances of the length of time some of these people have been dead:-: — Eigh't years, 12 years, 15 years, died in France, 20 years, 27 years, 28 years. They are not much further use on a county roll. "You might ask why I ara interested in purging the county roll. It is owing to the fact that one of those dead votes was counted against me at the recent election, also that I was put out of the council at the 1929 election by the vote of a Maori woman who had been dead 24 years. 'Quite a number of European names should be reinoved from the roll. they left the country years ago. I ara forwarding a copy of this letter to the county chairman."