The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1041, 25 February 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or qolitioal. . »■ .'• * * * * Hero shall tho Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by influonco and unbribed by gain.

Very nearly the second month of the three set apart each year for receiving applications from those entitled to have their names placed on the Electoral Roll of the colony, has passed. The constitution of New Zealand gives a vote to every property - holder and householder, .•ind under certain conditions to lodgeri also.' Practically this is universal: suffrage, or so near akin to it that every man deserving to exercise the privilege may qualify himself to do so. But much as we hear nowadays of the desirability of extending the franchise still further, it is, nevertheless, a fact that very many who are entitled to claim the nght,negloct to do so. Although February is nearly out,aud there remains b»t the month of March to make application, but very few such applications have been made as yet for the Waipa and Waikato districts. Too many defer this duty to the last diy of March, but the man who forgets and delays from day to day for nearly three months to take the simple steps necessary m this matter is quite as likely as not to forget it at the last moment, and to find, when too late, that he has only been furnishing another piece of pavement for a place unmentionable. We have, spoken ol the matter as a duty, and po it is— not only to himself, but to the electoral district m which the person entitled to vote resides, and to the State. It is the duty and j the pleasure of each one as a colonist to secure this voting power— his ' duty to place himself m a position to serve the colony, as every man is capable of doing, by taking part m the formation of that machinery on the perfection of which the health and vitality of the body politic depends—his pleasure to give it suoh form as best coincides with his own peculiar views and opinions. If he neglects to secure this power, he is the loser, but not he alone. The State, also, is a loser by his negligence, and still more so is the constituency of which he should form a part. For all political purposes — even to the weight to be attached to the voice and representations of its representative— the stand u*d applied by Parliament is, to a large extent, the numerical strength of the roll, and it is, therefore, to the directinterest of the residents of each elector.l district that every legitimate vote m that district should be registered. Nor must the would-be elector depend upon having the work of registration done for him by the Registration of Electors Act, 1875. This Act provides machinery for doing, m some instances, what individuals may neglect to do m tho matter of registration, but it does t not altogether do away with the necessi y of individual attention to the subject. On the 31st of March j m each** year, the clerk of every J governing body— that is, the secre- j tary of every Borough, or Highway, \ oi' Town Board shall compile an alphabetical list of all persons—

tnalea of twenty -one years and upwards —who shall have been ass ase 1 * and shall have made pay mene of any ] rate struck by the governing borly 1 ■m respect of rateable property siui- : ated within an electoral district , within the year endiug on the 30th , day of March then instanf. The '. penalty of clerks of governing bodies for neglect of making 1 such . list is ; one not exceeding ,£IOO. Under a similar penalty, the list, signed by the clerk and countersigned by the mayor or chairmin, must be forwarded to the Registration Officer for tbe electoral district within which'snch governing body is situated, on or before the 7th April m * each year. The list thus se it m will be treated by the Registration Officers as so many duly attested applications for registration on the Electoral Roll. But the Public must nob deceive themselves. They may suffer individually from the^ lachesi of negligent clerks and chairmen, even when* they • have paid their rates. But there are many who have not paid rates then due, others who are not on the ratebook, and those who from their less than six months tenure of the house m which they live are not liable to be rated, yet, who have a just claim to have their names appear on the Electoral Roll. It will not do for such persons to depend on the action taken under the Registration of Electors Act. If they do not apply m the regular way, they will find, when too late, that they have been left out m the cold. Therefore we say, to all who are not registered, register at once, and to facilitate their doing so, the necessary forms are kept for tree distribution at the office of the Waikato Times.