OFF THE ROLLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 236, 5 October 1935, Page 11

OFF THE ROLLS.

MANY COMPLAINTS.

QUESTION OF COMPULSION. POSTAL SUGGESTION. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Friday. Serious concern regarding the state of the electoral rolls as a result of the purging that took place some months ago was expressed in the. House of Representatives to-day by several members during the consideration of the estimates of the Electoral Department, which is in charge of the Prime Minister, Mr. Forbes.

Mr. J. O’Brien (Labour, Westland), referred to the special case of an elector who moved to another electorate and notified the registrar of his change of address but was unable to secure, enrolment in his new electorate in time for the election. In the meantime he found that his name was struck off the roll on which he was previously registered and he was disfranchised. Mr. O’Brien asked what was the position of the elector in such circumstances.

Mr. Forbes replied that if his name was not on the roll he could claim to vote as an absentee on the ground that his name had been erroneously removed. Regarding a suggestion made by Mr. A. J. Stallworthy (Democrat, Eden) that a No. 1 supplementary roll should be printed by the end of the present month in order to facilitate the enrolment of electors whose names had been removed. Mr. Forbes said that he would go into the question of bringing out a supplementary roll as soon as the House rose.

Mr. W. Nash (Labour, Hutt) asked Mr. Forbes to give some thought to a practice adopted in Great Britain and other countries of allowing all candidates to send out one message through the post without cost to them. Mr. Forbes: That is hardly a matter for the Electoral Department. Mr. Nash: In Great Britain the Electoral Department bears the cost and pays the Post and Telegraph Department for sending out the circulars.

Mr. Nash also asked if the Government intended-to do anything regarding the issue of rolls for Maori elections. He said that a tremendous number of abuses crept in under the present system of voting at Maori elections. Something Quite New.

Air. Forbes said that the question of whether the Electoral Department should bear the expense of posting out appeals for candidates was something quite new and would require careful consideration.

There was no doubt that there was the greatest confusion because of the. number of electors whose names had been struck off the rolls, said Mr. R. McKeen (Labour, Wellington South). He declared that thousands of people were going on in their own quiet way thinking that their names were still on the roll. It was extremely hard that candidates should be expected to open rooms and go to a good deal of expense putting people on the roll when it was the duty of the department to" do it. He had in his possession half-a-dozen claims for enrolment which had been refused by the registrar because they were written in ordinary pencil and some of the people concerned refused to fill in fresfl forms.

Mr. W. E. Parry (Labour, Auckland Central) said that 5000 of the electors in his district had been struck off the roll. He had looked up the history the rolls and had not discovered any previous caso in which such a large number of names had been struck off.

“Seeing that the Government knocked these people off the roll, it ought to play some part in putting them on again,” said Mr. Parry. “It is over the fence altogether. I know of dozens of cases in which the husband has been knocked off and the wife left on. Something has got to be done about it.” Over 5000 Removals. Between 5000 and 6000 electors of his district had been removed from the roll, said Mr. R. Semple (Labour, Wellington East). He had discovered people who had been on the roll for 25 years and had voted consistently at every election, yet their names had been removed from the roll. The Hon. J. G. Cobbe, who was temporarily taking the place of Mr. Forbes in the House, said that the public would be notified regarding the issue of the supplementary rolls. It had been found that the issue of a second supplementary roll caused considerable confusion. He was informed by the chief electoral officer that considerable publicity had been given to compulsory enrolment, and the result had been satisfactory in regard to the number of claims made.