The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18,1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1129, 18 September 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuuaion, religious or' political. Sere dhall the Press the Pbopub's right ' inaintaiu, Unawed by inffnencfl and cnbrbed by gain.

In a lace issue, we drew attention to bbab pot-don of the Electoral Bill, introduced by the Government during lust session of Parliament, which bore reference to the dual vote, showing that an attempt would have been, made to contiuue that obnoxious principle. There are other portions of the measure which are, however, deserving ot notice, and which it is desirable the attention of the public should be drawn to. At the distance at which legislation is carried on t'rsna the great balk of the population at either end of the Colony, it too often happens that there is little or no time, from die date of receiving the copy of a bill, and placing its contents before tbe public, for the latter to form anything like a careful opinion on the principles involved m it, and to give anythinglike a forcible expression of opinion on the matter. It is possible that, m the coming session, the same electoral bill may be introduced, .or one very nearly to the same purport, and we, therefore, proceed to point out what would appear to be a very great blot upon the bill, aud would materially lessen its advantages as a liberal measure, if, indeed; it did not altogether take it* out of that category. Manhood Suffrage has been on all hands, and by pretty well all classes of politicians, admitted as a necessity, and a simple act of justice. Bnt it is useless to give to the, at present, disenfranchised inhabitants of New Zealand the right to vote, if it is saddled with conditions that would render it very unlikely that they would be complied with, m a very large number of cases. We all know that very many, who might be placed upon the electoral rolls now, from one cause or another — neglect, procrastinationj or iuformality m the manner of their application — yearly remain out m the cold. Yet the registration that crocs on during' the first thitM months m each year, is a comparatively easy mutter compared with that reqaired m the proposed Government measure. The former applications are easily filled m, and a third party may do most of the work, all save the signature, and hand them m to the Registration Officer ; and further still, ihe whole thing- is done without cost. Registration under the proposed Government measure would, however, be quite another affair. The first qualification referred to, is m clause 14 : — " Every male person of the full age of twenty-one years, and being a natural-born or naturalised subject of Her Majesty, who U enrolled on a ratepayer^ roll, as herein defined, shall be qualified to vote m the election of members of tlio House of Representatives for fie electoral district within which such ratepayers' toll is m force. This qualification is hereinafter referred to as a ' rating qualification.' " This is a means of getting at those who ought to be upon the roll, which is already m force; but, practically, it has been found an unreliable one-=-Olerks of County Councils and Town Clerks have not always been to be depended upoii for the correctness of their lists, nor even for sending them m at all. Then comes the residential qualification for the service of elec tors rights, contained m clauses 31 and 32, as follows :-» "No person shall be entitled, m respect of a residential qualification, to vote m the election of any member to serve m the House of Representatives for any district, unless he shall be the holder of an jlector's right issued to him for the Hstrict m which he claims to vote, md his name, with the number of ris elector's right affixed, be upon an jlectoral roll m force for the time )eing for such district, and he be, at .he time of voting, possessed of the qualification entitling him to vote : mder this Acfc. N " Every person who shall have a : ■esidential qualification to vote for Members of the House of Repre* '

sentativea for any district, and shall have resided continuously m New Zealand for twelve months, and m like manner m the same district for six months past before he makes his I claim to vote, and ahall not he disqualified by some provision hereof or of some other Act m force, skull, subject to the provisions next hereinafter contained, be entitled to have an elector's right issued to him for sucli district, and to have his name inserted and retained upon a list and roll to be made herennder for such district." So far, so good, but now, as to the " provisions next hereinafter contained," above referred to. We find them as follows, m clause 37 : — "Any person claiming to be entitled heronnder to have an elector's right issued to him for any electoral district, shall apply m person to the Registration Officer of such district for the purpose, ai»d m the presence of the Registration Officer shall sign his name m a book to be kept for. the purpose, and also severally m the body and the butt of the elector's right to be issued, before the issue thereof, and pay to the said officer the sum of two shillings" Thus • m the Waipa district, for pxample, a person desiring to register himself under the residential qualification, would- be reqaired to attend personally at Hamilton and sign the register, and pay, m addition, a fea of two shillings. If, as is a fact, thousands fail to qualify under existing arrangements, what would be tho result were such a provision enforced ? There are other matters of detail m the. bill open to objection, but this is certainly the principal one, and quite sufficient, we think, to stamp it as unworthy the "Liberal programme," of which it was to have formed a part. Let us have liberal measures by all means, but let us also take care that they are liberal not merely m theory, and practically the reverse.