WESTLAND DISFRANCHISED.

West Coast Times, Issue 237, 26 June 1866, Page 2

WESTLAND DISFRANCHISED.

(from last evening's despatch.) Is Mr. Sale, the Returning Officer, goiag to raise the question of "qualifi-. cation " at tho approaching nomination of candidates for the Provincial Council ? Wo have already expressed our view sufficiently strongly, that ho has no right to do so. As we interpret the low, he has nothing to do but to receive all. names that are duly proposed ; to take the show of hands; if necessary, to take a poll ; and to endorse upon the writs the names of the two candidates for the goldfields and tho two candidates for Hokitika who receive the greatest number of votes. A speoial tribunal has been appointed for" the trial of qual'ficn lions, and that very fact alone removes the question from his jr isdiot'iQii.~

If he should raise the point, he may open a question larger than ho may dream of. The fact is, the electors of Westland must either lake an illegal course — and be allowed to takei> — or tbey will -be entirely disfranchised. It may be an osi-ouad'ng announcement to moke; but it is tvue nevertheless ; that if the Eloclorol law be technically enforced, tbero is not a single man at this moment resident on tho West Coast, out of us thirty thousand inhabitants, who possesses a legal right either to sit in the Provincial Council, or to vote at the election of a member of tho Provincial Council. Tho Minors franchise has been abolished}! Accepting in good faith as we have done, the action of the Provincial Council by whioh Westland was constituted three olectoral districts, ' entitled to return representatives, it is not surprising that the exact provisions of the law conferring this privilege should have been overlooked. But on examining it we find the following *:lraOxdinary state of tilings. Tho Act 0? the General Assembly entided "The Weet Coast Gold Fields Provincial Representation Act, 1885,' ; providing for the return of two members for the Gold-fields, declares that •'such act rhall lercrin in Lovca un.il provision shull have been made by an Oidnance of 1 he, Superintendent and Prov'acial Council" for tho "duo representation of the West Coast Goldfields in tUesaid P)o\inciol Council; " and that " uom and a^er the day on which cucli Ordinance slia'l have received the Governor's assent, the said Actsllllll CEA.SE TO HAVE ANY TOUCIS ox efftxjt wi:.vtevet;." And the P/ovioCiol Couu«'l Extension Ordinance 1866, declnies that "Whereas it Is expedient ihat such provision should be made, and that the said Act should cease lo have any "ore© and dTeci," be it therefore enacted &c.

Thus, "provision" being made- by, an Ordinance of thd Council for the :epresentation of the goldfielde as ordicb'nary electoral disLicts, tho Goldfield's Provincial llcpvesentation becomes a dead letter !

Clause 5 of tho. Ordinance is to the following effect :r-" Immediately after this Ordinance shall have received tho assent of the Governor on behalf o Her Majesty, the Registration Officer appointed by the Governor for iho Province of Canterbury, shall from the electoral rolls for the House of Representatives, for the electoral districts situated or partly situated within the said "province, form electoral rolls {for the election of the members of tho Provincial Council of such province." Clause 6 provides: "In forming such rolls the name of every elector on any roll for the Houso of Representatives in respect of any tenement or hereditament situated within any electoral district constituted by this Ordinance, shall bo placed on tho electoral roll or rolls of the electoral district or districts constituted by this Ordinance in which the lands or tenements in respect of which he is so registered are situated." Clause .7 is as follows : — "The electoral rolls so formed shall bo the electoral rolls Jto be used for such district, untilj a'revised or new electoral roll for the same shall be in force according to law." The eighth clause is a masterpiece either of humor or of stupidity. It enacts that " The provisions of this Ordinance relating to the Hokitikaj Greymouth and Westland distriots shall continue in force until the Gist clay of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty seven; and no longer." We presume it was meant to enact that the provisions should not be brought into force as regards these disti'icts until the date named — or that tho Gold-fields Franchise should not bo repealed until then. But it says precisely the reverse of this.

This Ordinance has been assented to by t the Governor on behalf of Her Majesty, and the following is tho slate of affairs : —

The Goldfields Provincial Representation Act is " Void md of no effect."

The right of voting for members of tho Provincial Council in respect of what is known as the Miners' Franchise — that is a Business License or a Minor's Right— is cancelled. Westland having been erected into three " clectoraljdistricls," the" electoral roll" becomes the sole basis of qualification. *

As no electoral rolls for the House of Representatives for these districts exist, no electoral rolls for the Provincial Council have been formed or can be formed.

Consequently the West Coast is effectually disfranchised, and not a single citizen on it, has any political status.

What will Mr Sulo "do? Will he raise this great question ? If ho do, ho will be able to endorse tho writs of election with no names whatever. Thoro

is no man qualified to sit, no man qualified to vote, no man qualified to nominate a candidate. Our electoral privileges have been swept away from U9.

If the election comes off, under tho circumstances, the Assembly covld no doubt bo prevailed on to pass an Act before tho Provincial Council is convened, enacting that " Whereas certain doubts exist &c, the election of members to ropreeent the Westland Districts in tho Provincial Council shall be deemed valid &o." But unless Mr Sale is a man of sufficient moral courage to allow the matter to go to that issue, Yi'G fear that (he richest district in New Zeninid, inhabited by thirty thousand people, will be disfranchised by a bungling apiece of legislation.