PERPLEXED ELECTORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 198, 23 August 1928, Page 10

PERPLEXED ELECTORS.

VARIOUS SYSTEMS IN VOGUE

CAUSE OF CONFUSION.

ENLIGHTENMENT OF VOTERS.

With the approach of each general 1 election electoral departments through- 1 out New Zealand busy themselves in 1 efforts to enlighten electors as to their ' obligations in respect to enrolment and £ technicalities in the Act, but always on f election day a certain amount of con- 1 fusion exists. A measure of the trouble J may be attributed to the varying , systems of election that are in vogue i in the country, and it would appear that 1 there is necessity for a general revision J of the constitution and powers of bodies ( responsible for local government. Complications arise particularly through misunderstandings as to registration. Some electors, who exercise their franchise at municipal and county elections, labour under the belief that, because they have fulfilled their responsibilities in this connection, that their names are automatically added to the Parliamentary roll, and vice versa. But such is not the case. There are separate rolls for each election. Then, again, many voters do not know exactly where they stand when the time for ! the appointment of local body members ' arrives, and this is not to be wondered at | considering the wide variety of methods L of election that are employed and the | , periods for which candidates are re- , turned. For instance, Parliamentarians i are elected on an adult franchise for j , three years; city and borough councils, ' Mayors, harbour, hospital and town boards are appointed on the same broad franchise for two years. County councils are elected for three years. The ! Auckland Electric Power Board is elected 1 by ratepayers only for four years, while ' education boards, which are municipal ! bodies in a sense, because their work vitally affects the welfare of the community, are elected by school committees, which in turn are elected by house- - holders. New Zealand thus enjoys the [» distinction of practising practically - every known form of election, and, i therefore, excuses may be made for the recording of informal votes from time b to time and the paucity of the polls. j Points Tor Electors. e Referring once more to the general elections, it might be pointed out that tl among the maze of electoral lawa there 3 is one that is most interesting, and JwUtk, perhaps, fe nos yerjr widely

known. It is that which concerns the interpretation of Maoris and half-castes and their voting rights. The official authoritative declaration reads as follows: "The definition of a Maori includes three classes of persons, viz., (a) an aboriginal native; (b) a person whose parents one is an aboriginal native and the other a European (this person is a half-caste); (c) a person whose parents one is a half-caste as above defined and the other an aboriginal native (this person may be referred to as a quartercaste). Of these three classes (b), the half-caste, is entitled to be enrolled on the European roll, (a) and (c) are not. A person whose parents one is a quartercaste and the other an aboriginal native would be in the same category as (c), and similarly in the case of his descendants by aboriginal natives." Other points of interest are that persons resident on hulks may be deemed to.be residents in nominated electoral districts contiguous to the harbour. Persons claiming enrolment must specify their addresses in such a manner as to enable them to be easily and clearly identified. Cases frequently crop up where applicants merely mention the streets in which they reside without reference to the number or name of their houses. While the necessity for it is gradually decreasing, owing to the advancement of education, special provision is made for the enrolment of constituents who cannot write.