ENROL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 42, 18 August 1908, Page 8

ENROL.

IS WELLINGTON APATHETI C? FACILITIES FOR INSPECTING' ROLLS. • In about three months' time the genseral elections will be held throughout|New Zealand, but there is only one-Wel-"lington electorate in which any; great 1 - stir;" is apparent, so far. In WellingtonsCen--tral, according to Mr. HodgkiiSs, re-» -turning officer, there is scarcely any animation being shown, but there is a'brisker tone apparent in Wellington* North, where three candidates for Parliamentary honours are already in the< field, assisted- by many canvassers. The. returning officer for this electorate (Mr. Holmes) estimates that close upon two .thousand claims for enrolment. have been, .sent in to.him since the 15th April last, aad there was a batch of about one ' hundred received by yesterday's mail. It has been a frequent complaint, in , past years, by people whose names werflv accidentally omitted from the rolls, that their- vocations kept them at work during the hours when the rolls were open to p.ublic inspection, but that cause of trouble no longer exists, and if anyone possessing tho right to a vote finds himself ineligible to vote on election day, in consequence of his name not being on the roll, the fault will be his own. The rolls of all the city electorates may be inspected at tho General Post Office, and the branch post offices have on hand the roll of the electorate in which each branch is situated. These may be inspected every day, between 9 a.m. and 5' p.m. continuously. Some people have complained that it is inconvenient for them to leave their work during those hours, and to meet such cases, arrangements have, been made to keep copies of the rolls of each electorate in the several police stations. As these are open both day and night, even, the busiest of men may find a suitable time at which to. ascertain definitely if their names appear on the roll. A source of trouble to the returning officers is the duplication of applications which, occasionally occur, and the officers' tasks are made harder by the neglect of some people to answer thewritten queries necessary to establish or disprove such possibilities. All claims are checked by the old roll, and it is occasionally found — to illustrate with a.supposititious case— that James Tarr, deck hand, of the steamer Castashore, already on ths roll, has quitted the sea* and become a longshoreman. A canvasser approaches him and persuades him* to send in another application. This time the application will be from James Tarr, wharf labourer, Wellington-ter-ace, and it will be necessary for the returning officer to write to the applicant to find out whether he is or is not the already-registered elector ho is thought to be. Failure to answer such letters as these has caused much delay, and there are some unanswered letters on file which were sent out nearly two months ago. If members of the public wonld be more prompt in answering all kinds of electoral correspondence they would lighten tha labours of very busy men.