SOLDIERS' VOTING RIGHTS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 70, 22 March 1919, Page 6

SOLDIERS' VOTING RIGHTS.

CURIOUS OFFICIAL METHODS. A THREE DAYS" WARNING. APPEAL TO MINISTER OF JUSTICE. The persistent refusal of the Acting Prime Minister, who is spokesman for the Xational Government, to accept responsibility for the disfranchisement position in which several hundred soldiers find themselves, and his equally persistent attitude that nothing can be done to reinstate these men as voters at the liquor referendum next month, have combined to arouse public feeling in Auckland to a high pitch. Indignation is now being freely expressed, publicly and privately, at what in considered to be the obdurate adherence of the State authorities to red tape, in denying that a way out can be found from the alleged impasse. It is estimated that in the Auckland district alone over 400 of our returned fighting men are at present without a vote as a result of the sorry misunderstanding, while for the 'Whole Dominion the figures are variously estimated at from 1200 to 2000. But as a number of public men have pointed out in discussing the matter, the actual figures are not materia! — remedy would be equally necessary if only half-a-dozen men had been deprived of their voting rights, either by official overeight or by failure to make the position clear in good season and through the proper channels. That there was ample room for misunderstanding on the part of the soldiers is evident from the fact that the State officers themselves were in some confusion on the point at issue. An Order-in-Council was made and gazetted on December 10. and under this it was generally accepted, both by the Government and its officers and by the public, that all recently landed soldiers, discharged and otherwise, would be able to vote on April 10s.li on the production either of their pay books or their dischargee. A long interval elapsed, and then OD February 25fch another Order-in-Oouncil was issued revoking clause two of the previous one. A curious feature of this new order was that though it was only issued on February 2.3 th, live days previously, namely on February 20th, an advertisement was inserted in the Wellington newspapers by the Chief Eleoiora.l Officer warning all soldiers who had already returned or who might return before March 3rd, that they ■would only be able to vote on April 10th as electors of a district, and would therefore have to enrol if they •wished to exercise their right to vote. At that time a considerable body of the men to whom the warning applied were on the water and could know nothing about the 'Way in which matters were being tangled up to their prejudice. But in Auckland the position was run to a still finer point, for the notince, which was dated in Wellington February 20th appeared in Auckland for the. first time on Saturday, March 1, in one newspaper and on Monday, March 3rd in the other. So that the longest notiVe any discharged soldier had in Auckland was three or four days. Even admitting that a man had the time to enrol, and many of the soldiers did enrol on seeing the notice, there were still many others Mho had just arrived after being absent on war service for several years, and were occupied, not in thinking about the approaching licensing poll and Government regulations respecting it, but in being welcomed snd feasted by their relatives and friends a*? heroes home from the iwars. Small wonder, says the man in the street and on the platform, that those men only ds- :- eovered they had been dispossessed of their right to vote when it was too late for they themselves to remedy the bungle. The mind of the average soldier just returned to his own land and folk is in a whirl cf glad excitement, and cannot be expected to arrange itself in the nicely ordered watertight compartments of civil routine as its owner walks down the gangplank to the wharf. These are circumstances, declare those who are now energetically endeavouring to obtain timely redress for the disability officially bungled on to the unoffending soldiers, which the Government, according to the Acting Prime Minister, is pleased to ignore, casting all the onus willy-niily on to the r.israted voters. Tn other words, having washed its hands of the men as soldiers, it is careless of their civil rights as men. Meanwhile protests continue to be forwarded to Sir .Ta>. Allen and his colleagues. This morning the Hon. G. J. Garland, M.L.C., decided to make an appeal to the Minister of Justice, who is the Minister in control of the special licensing poll, and dispatched the following telegram to the Hon. T. M. Wilford: " Very- strong feelings of indignation regarding disfranchisement of discharged soldiers here. Could not matter be remedied under clause twelve. The Act places responsibility upon Minister of Justice."

Clause 12 sets out special provisions for taking the votes of members of the Expeditionary Forces, and paragraph .'! of the clause reads: "The validity of the special licensing poll shall not he questioned on the ground that anything required to be done by this section has been irregularly done, or lias been omitted to be done." This clearly points to the possibility of extraordinary contingencies arising which would have to be dealt with in some manner, even though in an irregular way.