Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1911. HARBOUR BOARD ELECTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10221, 24 April 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1911. HARBOUR BOARD ELECTION.

From present indications, it does not appear that there will be a heavy poll in the country districts on Wednesday next, on the occasion of the first Harbour Board election. The Legislature, for reasons best known- to itself, has placed every obstacle possible in the way of tlie settler having a voice in the management of Harbour Board affairs. Under the old order of things the local authorities, who made the selection of their representative, were largely composed of country people. Now, however, the procedure is entirely changed. The resident in the town controls the situation. Every man and woman over twenty-one years of age is entitled to vote, so long as he and she litive lived in a borough for a period of three months. In the Counties, however, only the ratepayer has a vote. The wife, daughter, and man, or maid-servant, are disfranchised. A ir.ore iniquitous piece of class legislation could not be conceived. Take the Borough of Masterton as an illustration. Every working man and woman within its borders is entitled to <a vote; but at Laiisclownc, Upper Plain, and other suburbs, which are within a stone's throw, as it were, of the Post Offioe, only those whose names appear upon the ratepayers' roll of the County can vote. Not only sot The borough electoral rolls are brought right up to date, whilst those of the Counties are out of date. And then, to make the position still worse, the town-dweller is given an extra inducement to vote on account of the municipal elections being held simultaneously with thosei for the Harbour Iffards. TUg ratepayer in

the County, however, is asked to tra- , vel for miles to a polling-booth, to vote only for candidates for the Har- i bour Board, in the sure and certain I prospect of being out-voted by the burgesses of the towns. Were it not that the people of the towns, from a sheer sense of fair-play, are disposed to express their resentment at the legislation which disfranchises those who are most directly concerned in the affairs of the Harbour Board, i.e., the primary producers, country folk would have been well advised to remain in their homes on the day of the poll. As it is, however, it is tolerably certain that a large section | of the town community will recognise the claims of the producers to representation upon the Harbour Board. This being so, it behoves dwellers in the country to do their part, and record their votes, in the hope that they will succeed. It need hardly be said that every man and woman in the community has a direct interest in the affairs of the Harbour Board, for the cost of living is in no liconsiderable degree affected by the charges made at the respective ports. Moreover, the primary producers, as exporters of butter, cheese and frozen meat, have a right to know that the conveniences at the port are such as to facilitate the careful handling of their output. For this reason, it is essential that practical business men should be sent to the Harbour Board. It is safe to say that the present iniquitous law, which discriminates so unfairly against the country settler, will be amended at the first session of Parliament. In the meantime, it is to be hoped that country settlers will not fail to record their votes.