General Assembly.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1148, 4 November 1879, Page 2

General Assembly.

HOUSE OF REPRE3KFTATIVBS. ' ' ELECTORS BIIiIi. ' Mr Hall moved the second reading of. the Qualification of 'Electors Bill. In dealing with its provisions he said that what was^aimed ac was that every man leasing a freehold property, whether incutnbered or not, should have the franchise as well as every resident. The 'Maoris were to be provided for by a ■ separate measure. ' Sir Greorge Grey said the bill, so far as the '■ language was concerned, was singularly ' involved. It was, a bill which increased the power of property m the colony. Every freeholder with a property qualification amounting to £25, was provided with a vote. In that case any one man " I might have this qualification, m virtue of '■■ property, m at least 20 districts. In ! committee he would do his best to get that clause knocked out. By the Constitution f_ct the native power of election is exactly : the same as that of a European. This ; bill takes away that right from the natives, j He felt confident, that whatever was the j strength of the G-ove.tom.ent they would not j be able to carry the bill m its present l^ form. He would insist on manhood suffrage and equal electoral rights for the aboriginals. He was quite sure this bill | was not what the country expected, and would do his beat to get it thrown out. Colonel Trimble pointed out this as only one of the serins of bills which would have to be considered together. In one of the other series provision was made for the returning officer putting the question to r.he elector, " Have you voted for this election already ?" and if the answer be uot satisfactory, then the vote might be rejected. Mr Wakefield said that bill was rather involved or complicated. He reminded the meraber for the hames that last year, when he moved m the same direction, he (Sir eorge ■ Jrey ) resisted such effort. ' o then stated it was a mistake to think he objected r,o a property qualification, adding . that he culy meant that opposition to ipply to local elections. It was simple •ant and humbug for the member for the ' hames to take up the position he did. He • Wended the £25 qualification, and maintained that it wouH add very largely to the eleotor.il roll. Elector* would be proud to exercise their franchise m virtue >f their property holding. le charged -iir George G-'ey with bein^r thy apostle of i sham Liberalism, and contended that the Government now m power had given evidence m work. vlr Mos< maintained that the objections stated by Sir George G-rey were of great . importance, and struck the key-note of the , whole measure. aptain rsussell thought the natives should be on the 'same footing as Europeans ; on he other hand they should have squal responsibilities Mr Tawhia repudiated an assertion mad, by the previous speaker, to the effect that the Maori members m the House, were solely under the influence of the Native -Minister and the interpreters, iad they been open to have been swayed by such influence, they would have been on the side of the Government all along Mr GisHorne said that under this bill they were asked to disfranchise the natives, without having any knowledge a* to what franchise was to be provided for the m He contended that special representation was necessary, but that the representation should be so arranged that it would be gradually superseded; so that the representation of the two races might be the same. The bill before the House was defective m that respect, and while he would not oppose the second reading, m committee he hoped to see it modified m the way indicated. ■ Mr Reader Wood said they were the representatives of the people, and not the representatives of property. It was the people then and not the property which should have the voice m their election. The property qualification m the bill was &imply a mode for buying votes. It enabled large holders to cujb up their property, and control a corresponding number of votes. That provision he thought might very properly be struck out The residential .clause was also oljectionable. There was no interpretation clause to shew what residence meant, uppose that rolls were made up at the end of the year, then m that case it would 'be ira ossicle for any one of them go home and say they had resided m the district for the previous 12 months. He would be m favor of doing away with the property qualification altogether, and inserting something more explicit regarding the resideatal qualification. The House re-assembled at 7.30. ELECTORAL BILL. Mr Saunders, m speaking to the motion for the ..second reading of the Electoral Bill, said it was to be regretted thitt the whole of tho measures on this point wore not before them. <c agreed with a s^ood deal that had been s dd by the hon. member for the Thames.- The bill misyhfc have been jxpi'e-'sel m more simple language. So Hv tn he un-lersitood the bill, it gave the n , r ht for property to exercise any number if vote*, provided the vote was not recorded tfi the geiier.tl election. The bill provide:! chat no alien, nor person convicted of treason or felony oriafatnous crime, should >c registered. Such objection, should he ,hou.!*ht, be strictly enforced against persons sihtiug as members m that louse, le would not. however, be disposed to go the same length as regards electors exercising the franchise. He would vote for the bill, but m committee he would .reserve hi* p >wer to su.!?ge>t amendments. M- mlrews blamed the G-ovevnmant for not having b ought down all this series of bills at ihe one time. If ths bill before the ouse parsed, aud -some of the •ithe s did nut, the situition vvoulu. be •rendered most emba raising. He would .suppo t the second reading, reserving the right to mak6 alterations m coramittea. sVfr Dick objected to the £25 property qualification. There should be but one vote m the elections to thi* House. They should have only one qualification—manhood suffrage, with, a low property qualification. Non-residents would be able to qualify themselves m a number of adjoining districts, for exampla, with this re ult, that these non-residents would swamp the vote of the residents. He also objected to the exemption made as against the natives. They should be encouraged to qualify themselvps, so as to be placed on the same footing as Europeans. Edusation m the Euglish language should also be encouraged amongst the natives, so that the native members m the H ouse might be able to understand the debates, instead of trusting to the- distorted versions given them by interpreters and others with a political bias. In oommittee, however,fhe thought the bill was quite ■ capable of being remodelled into a good and useful measure. Mr Pitt said that, m a House so strongly imbued with Liberalism, he was astonished that nothing had been said abipiit extending the franchise to women. They had been told they »epresented the people. «Ie denied that such was or could be the case, so long as they excluded the female franchise. They were amenable to all the political obligations, and he could see no eason why they should not be allowed to participate m the political privileges. He was not prepared to go the length of saying that they should have a seat m the House. He believed a reform of that kind would come sooner or later, and he saw no reason why they should not face the responsibility at once. Mr 'iitchiuson said the bill did not aim at giving a plurality of votes to property. That vras an injustioo to property.

Men with scraps of property here and theregot the plurality, and tKe man with all his property m one block, no matter how large, had only one vote. They stood there to rapresent men. He thought after all that had been said Government would be prepared to abandon this qualification. He thought they should give the Maoris the right of voting with themselves. He contended that the exception made m the case of persons convicted of crime was injudicious. Mr ' Hall, m replying, said the records showed that the late Government intended, m this Electoral Bill, to provide for the representation of property as well as residental qualification. The question of native representation could, he thought, be better discussed on a special bill dealing with the subject, and proposing to give ample compensation m another way to natives for any rights of which the present bill deprived them. The Government would' give the native equal rights with Kuropeans, but would strenuously resist giving them greater privileges. It was stated that men would go here and there, under the property qualification, for the purpose of making for themselves votes. Weil, he had never heard of such a thing being done. He was glad the t matter was dealt with apart altogether ' from }>a ty spirit. The Government was i not going to yield what i<< thought was ; right. Still, he imagined that m committee arrangements would be made that would meet the views of all pa ties. The motion was put and carried, its committal being made an order of the day for Tuesday. V '