THE LICENSING POLL.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 March 1919, Page 4

THE LICENSING POLL.

THE SOLDIERS' VOTE. By Telegraph.—Presa Association. Auckland, Last Night. A crowded meeting, convened by the Mayor, in response to representations by the various interests, passed the following resolution: "That this meeting directs the attention of the Government to the position created with regard to the disfranchisement of returned soldiers by Order-in-Council of December 19 last, in which it was provided that members of the Expeditionary Force returned to New Zealand after February 1, 1919, and before the date of the poll, should be entitled to vote as if they were members Of the Expeditionary Force, which order was subsequently revoked, practically on the eve of the closing of the rolls. The position thus created appears to : this meeting to be most unfair, and such aB entitled the soldiers to claim at the hands of the Government immediate provision to enable them to legally exercise their vote. The meeting therefore demands the Governmefit to take immediate steps to make provision, by re-attesting or other means, failing which a special session of Parliament to enact the necessary provisions be called. Further, if legal difficulties are insuperable, the meeting demands the Government to make provision for an informal vote to be taken on April 10 of all men affected, the vote to be validated when Parliament meets."