The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1884. DUTY OF ELECTORS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1724, 1 July 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1884. DUTY OF ELECTORS.

The duty of electors during the month of July of the year of Our Lord one. thousand eight hundred and eighty four, is very easy to preach and very hard to practice. The difficulty of practising is enhanced by tho sad reflection that the majority of those who possess the franchise do not usually recognise any duty in connection with the ballot, and it is no easy task to convince them that what they regard with comparative indifference is a high trust—a solemn obligation—on which the welfare of themselves and of their children to the third and fourth generation will depend. An individual vote may seem a trifling matter, but the aggregate of the individual votes absolutely determines the destinies of the colony. The ballot papers rule the country, and each name recorded on them ia a factor in the power which moves New Zealand. The first obvious duty of electors at the present moment is not to be in a'hurry. Those who have not made up their minds as to the candidate for whom they mean to vote, have exactly three weeks leisure for considering what course they will take, and there is nothing to be gained by a hasty decision. Thougli two candidates only are before the electors in each of the Wairarapa electorates, it is possible that a fortnight hence a third man might appear in one or other of the districts, who might have a claim on the suffrages of the electors, Those who promise their votes, befsre the day of nomination, the 14th insfc, possibly debar themselves from exercising their franchise with that freedom and independence which is their right under the law. Under the ballot, people are not supposed to promise votes flt all, but weak mortals will yield to solicitations, and we can only advise those who are canvassed to refrain from pledging themselves before the day of nomination. We said that the franchise was a trust and we would also point out that it is one that should be exercised primarily for the benefit of the colony as a whole, and only secondarily for the benefit of the electorate. As a rule the colony is ignored at the ballot box, and its interests suffer consequently in the Assembly. The true voter, the grand ejector, the man who is worthy of the respect flnd confidence ot every good

man in the colo:iy is he who does not say " which of these candidates will be able to do roe—poor miserable me—a good turn," but which of them is the best for New Zealand, Such a man is something more than a voter, he is a a patriot, and with any considerable number of such men in a community there must be good and wise government which will benefit every electorate in the two islands, We trust all classes in the community will exercise some thought and deliberation in recording their votes. They will be appealed to by election committees and by the press, but while they have the privilege of being courted they have also the right to reserve their answer or only give it on the ballot paper. Election committees are useful institutions in their way. They stir up settlers to take an interest in a contest, and they cause a larger number of votes to be recorded than would otherwise be given, lb is good for electors to be roused at an election time by candidates addresses, by the press, and by the election committees, but let them hear, mark, learn, and inwardly digest'all that is put before them, and when the time arrives for them to surrender their franchise' give it according to the best of theirjudgments for the benefit of New Zealand and for the advancement of the Wairarapa.