Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1882.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 31 October 1882, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1882.

Yesterday morning the Resident Magistrate disposed of the large number of 231 objections to names being retained on the Wanganui electoral roll. In every case the Registrar was the objector, under the 18th section of " The Registration of -Electors Act, 1 879." He stated that, in all, 246 summonses had been issued, and that service had been effected by leaving the summons at the last known place of abode of the person objected to, or by sending it to him in a registered letter through the post. Eighty-five of these summonses had been returned through the dead letter office, and in some other cases the persons had admitted that they no longer possessed a qualification in the district. On the 23 1 being called in due course, not a solitary elector answered, and then, in terms of the 19th section ' of the Act, the Resident Magistrate made as many orders that the names should be struck off the roll. It is not surprising that this process for purging the roll should appear to the Eegistrar to be cumbrous and extravagantly wasteful of time. His brother Registrars throughout the colony are of the same opinion, and the defect was pointed out and commented on at the time the Registration of Electors Act was before Parliament. The question is how can it be bettered — how can the time and trouble be saved [without rendering the position of the elector less secure than it is at present ? The policy of the iramers of the Act was to make the roll as complete and trustworthy as possible with the smallest amount of bother to the electors, and in some important respects they have succeeded. The new Act is on the whole a very great improvement on that which went before, and places the elector in a much better position with regard to registration. He can now register at any time during the year, with the exception that, if an election is about to take place, registration ceases until the contest is over. But those who were anxious to afford the elector facilities for getting his name placed on the roll were also anxious that it should not be unduly removed, and it is this wish to secure ■ his position that led to the adoption of the cumbrous process to which we are referring. The system under the old Act was to advertise the list of names objected to, but the owners of the names were not summoned to appear and show cause why they should cease to be registered. It was contended that the advertising was not only very expensive, which it certainly was, but that it was not effectual for the purpose intended. It may be that under the old system a name was occasionally removed from the roll without due cause, and with-

out the iact' coming to the knowledge of the person principally interested, until he desired to record his vote at some election. '-Indeed such cases are within our own.,kho\fledge ; and in those "days there might be very considerable delay in setting the matter right, because it was only during certain months in the year thatr registration could ' be effected. But there' was, pfter all, very little cause of complaint, and it suems to us that, notwithstanding all the care whioh the Legislature has taken to prevent a name being improperly erased from the roll, there is quite as much probability of such a mistake being made. at the: present day as there was - . before . the law was amended! Supposing the present system of summoning were necessary and effectual for the protection of the elector we should not advocate' change merely for the sake of lightening the work, of the officials ; but the case is different when their time is being wasted and the position of the elector is not rendered in the slightest dogree more secure. We notice that in the course of conversation with the Resident Magistrate when these - caßes were before the Court, the Registrar suggested that a much simpler way of purging the roll would .be to strike out, immediately after a general election, the names of all those on the roll who had not recorded their votes. He admitted that the idea was not original, but it is not the less worthy of consideration. If the plan were adopted there would' be no necessity for confining its operation to the occasion of a general election. The purging of the roll should take place after every'election ; and, as the Registrar pointed "out, if any properly qualified electors unfortunately had . their names removed, they could immediately send in sfresh applications to be registered. The dead men, and those whose ■■qualifications' weredefective or had lapsed, would trouble the Registrar, no more; the living electors, who cared for the franchise, but who had been debarred from some cause or other from exercising it, would take care to have their names reinserted on the roll as speedily.as possible. The system, would have the advantage of greater certainty than that which at present prevails. The elector who had not voted would know that he was no longer registered, and that if he cared about the privilege he must take steps to set himself light. Nor would there be any hardship whatever in requiring him to make a fresh application for registration. ,"' The .work would occupy him, say,' five minutes, and would cost him twopence unless all -such letters were allowed to go free. If Mr Woon's suggestion were carried out it is; obvious that immediately after an election the roll would not exceed its proper proportions, though it certainly might for a week or two be a few names short of its full complement. But even this plan is not perfect unless it be intended that the work of purgation should go on throughout the year, and that name|s should from time to time be removed from the roll as'it came to the knowledge of the Eegistrar that they had no right to be there.- That the pre_. sent method of purging the roll is cumbrous and -wasteful of time there can be no doubt whatever.