The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1217, 1 March 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1870.

The annual period allowed for the registration of electors will soon nave passed, and we therefore think it desirable to draw the attention of those whose names are not already on the Electoral rolls for one or other of the various districts, to the fact. By the amended Act regulating elections, the time during which claims to vote can be received is extended from one month to three, ending 31st March, and the process of making the application is also simplified. All that the claimant has now to do is to fill up correctly a printed form, get it attested by a registered elector, a Jußtice of the Peace, or a Eegistration Officer, as may suit his own convenience, and send it in to the Registration Officer of the district for which the claim is made. It is almost unnecessary, we should think, to point out the desirability of every qualified person haying his name on the list ; in fact, the right to vote should be looked upon as a public trust, to be conscientiously exercised, and, when so regarded, the duty of taking the necessary steps to give that right legal force becomes apparent. At nearly every election which takes place, parties are heard regretting their carelessness in this matter, the opportunity of placing their names on the list having been allowed to slip on the supposition that no material question was likely to arise on which they .would care to give their voice, and it but too frequently happens that people rush to register just after some important point has been submitted to the test of a poll. Greater folly than such procrastination can scarcely be perpetrated. No one can possibly foresee what subjects may occupy the attention of the public, or be referred to it for decision. At the present moment especially we would urge upon every individual possessed of the very moderate qualification required, to send in his application at once. It is possible, nay, probable, that during the present year questions may be referred to che constituencies involving, not the interests of a district or province merely, but the welfare and future of the whole country — questions on which every man ought both to have and express an opinion. For the convenience of our unenfranchised readers, especially those in the country, we enclose in to-day's paper the printed form of claim, in the filling up of which, if attention is paid to the prinled matter, a mistake can scarcely be made. The Province is divided into four districts, as follows : — Invereargill, comprising the town proper only, for which Mr Haevet Thomson, at the Eesident Magistrate's Court, is registrar. Mataura district embraces all the area within the following boundaries (excepting the town) : — East, the Mataura ; west, the Oreti ; south, the sea ; and north, a line running due east from a point on the Oreti on the southern edge of Centre Bush, until it strikes the head waters of the Charlton stream, near Mr Bell's, and thence down that stream to the Mataura River. Mr Thomson is registrar for this district also. Eiverton district is bounded on the east by the Oreti, on the south by the sea, on the west by a line running westerly from the junction of the Omutu and Purapurakino streams, until it strikes an intersecting line running north and south through | Farndon and Bald hills ; on the west by j the said line to the south-east base of Bald Hill, and on the north by a line j running from the same point at Bald Hill, through Heddon Bush, until it strikes the Oreti to the south of Centre Bush; Mr Peter GHbant, Biverton, is registrar for this district. The district of Wallace in- j eludes all the other portion of the province not included in the other three, and : some portions of Otago which lie contiguous, and Mr C. R. Mabteit, Ryal j Bush, is Registration Officer for that district. Claims to vote, forwarded by ! mail, go free of postage if marked " On public service only." That no doubt as to the qualifications may deter any one from sending in bis claim, we subjoin the clauses of the Constitution Act relating thereto: — - . 6. Every person within any Province hereby established, or hereafter to be established, who shall be legally qualified

as an elector, and duly registered as such, shall be qualified to be elected a member j of the Provincial Council thereof, or to j be elected Superintendent thereof : Pro- j tlded always, That it shall not be necess- i ary that he reside or possess the qualification in the particular district for which he may be elected to serve as a member. 7. The members of every such Councib shall be chosen by. the votes of .'th<| inhabitants of the Province who may.be-; qualified as hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, every man of the age of twentyone years or upwards, haviDg a freehold, estate in possession, situate within the ; district for which the vote is to be given, of the clear value of fifty pounds above all charges and incumbrances, and of or to which he has been seised or entitled, either at law or in equity, for at least six calendar months next before the last registration of electors, or having a leasehold estate in possession, situate within ; such district, of the clear annual value of i ten pounds, held upon a lease which at j the time of such registration shall have not less than three years to run, or having a leasehold estate so situate, and of such value as aforesaid, of which he has been in possession for three years or upwards next before such registration, or bting a householder within such district, oc-* cupyinef a tenement within. the limits. -of a town~(to be proclaimed as such by- the Governor for the purposes of this Act), of the clear annual value of ten pounds, or without the limits of a town of the clear annual value of five pounds, and having resided therein six calendar months next before such registration as aforesaid, shall if duly registered, be entitled to vote at the election of a member or members for the district. 8. Pbovtded always, That no person shall be entitled to vote at any such election who is an alien, or who at any time theretofore shall have been attainted or convicted of any treason, felony, «r infamous offence, within any part of Her Majesty's dominions, unless he shall have received a free pardon, or shall have undergone the sentence or punishment to which he shall have teen adjudged- for : such offence. ' t i 42. The members of the said House of Representatives to be chosen in eyer^ electoral district for that purpose, shall be chosen by the votes of tbe inhabitants of New Zealand who shall possess within such district the like qualifications which, when possessed within an electoral district appointed for the election of members of a Provincial Council, would entitle inhabitants of the Province to vote in the election of members of the Provincial Council thereof, and who shall be duly registered as electors ; aud every person legally qualified as such elector shall be qualified to be elected a member of the said House.