The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1868.

Southland Times, Issue 966, 10 June 1868, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1868.

The importance of having a full and correct Electoral Roll can scarcely be over-estimated. The political standing of a province is determined more from the number of its electors than the amount of its population, and it is therefore desirable that the names of as many of the population as can be legitimately included among the franchised should appear in that document. The Represantation Act of New Zealand is so complex and narrow in it operations that public opinion is seldom reflected in the result of the election of candidates for either the General Assembly or the Provincial Council, and therefore, the spirit, and not a stringent rendering of the letter of the law, should animate the conduct of all who may take part in the proceedings of the Revision Courts. No political partisan special pleading or hair-splitting objections should be entertained. The policy of limiting the time for registration to a peried of three months in the year, and clustering round the right of enrollment a heap of restrictions, in the shape of residence in one locality for a certain number of months, is wrong in principle and vicious in practice. In a new country like New Zealand continual changes are taking place. Men change their place of residence much more frequently than they do in old communities, and therefore it is necessary in order to give health and vigor to the body politic that in the working of this crude and objectionable system care should be taken not to disfranchise any one from the simple fact of a

temporary absence or an unimportant | change of residence.

The Revision Court will be held this day for the consideration of the objections that may have been lodged to many names appearing on the roll. In some cases the objections may be valid and should be entertained, and in many others they will no doubt be dealt with as frivolous ? It is much to be desired that the Electoral Roll should be as perfect as possible, and any attempt to curtail it by putting quibbles for political ends is strongly to be deprecated. The Representation system in its present form fails to confer upon a great portiou of the public the privileges of the franchise, but as long as it remains in operation it should be worked with the aim of making it as little oppressive as possible. The greatest boon a people can possess is a full, fair, and easily obtained franchise, and without this responsible governments are mere shams, useless for the working out of the objects for which they were instituted, and calculated to work dire mischief — to open the door for political trickery and party plotting. If a people desire to maintain their independence, the most persevering efforts should be put forth to swell the electoral roll, and liberalise the franchise whenever it is found that restrictions exist. It is to be hoped that this spirit will be shown by both objectors and the objected to in the Revision Court on this occasion. It would be better to have five absentees names on the Roll than unjustly strike off that of one legitimate voter. In the first instance no harm could accrue, as absent men could not vote, while in the latter case a positive injustice would be done.