The Press. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1893.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8589, 16 September 1893, Page 6

The Press. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1893.

THE ELECTORAL BILL. Assuming that the Electoral Bill is to become law in a day or two, it will require careful study from all who intend to take any interest in the forthcoming elections. There is one clause in it—the 13 th— which strikes us as deserving special notice. It seems to be a trap carefully set to disfranchise everybody who has the impudence to own land in the colony in two districts, or even in one district if it be a district other than that in which he resides. People are under the impression that under this Bill, though a man cannot vote in more tban one district yet he may be registered in as many Districts as he has qualifications for. Now this is not the case. The new Act not only makes it a crime to vote in more than one District but it makes it a crime to be registered in more than one District. It is a crime which is punished by a fine, and of course if the fine be not paid by imprisonment. But the punishment does not end there. The hardened scoundrel who is guilty of the enormity of registering in more than one District is not entitled to vote at any election so long as he knowingly allows his name to remain on more than one roll. In order that the accuracy of our interpretation of the Act may be tested we shall give the words of this section, which are as follows :— ""Every person who at the commencement of this Act is to his knowledge registered aa an elector in respect of one or more qualifications in more districts than one, and who under the provisions of section

eleven is entitled to have his name retained on the rolls for such districts, shall, within forty days next after the aforesaid commencement, choose the district and the qualification in respect of which respectively he elects to continue to be registered, and within the aforesaid time shall notify the Registrar of such district that he desires his name to be retained on the roll of the said district ; and such Registrar shall inform all Registrars of districts, on the rolls of which he shall notice the name of the person sending him such notification, of the fact of such notification, and such Registrars shall thereupon delete from the rolls of their districts the name of such person. And auy person as aieresaid who, knowing his name to be on more than one roll, fails to give the notice hereby required to be given to any Registrar within the time mentioned in this section, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, aud shall not be entitled to vote at any election so long as he knowingly allows bis name to remain on more-than one roll." This is, therefore, a new peril for the landowner. Every man or woman who has or may have had one or two little bits of land in different parts of the colony, and who has, therefore, reason to suspect that his name may be on more than one Electoral Roll, should see to it that he takes the necessary steps to get his name off the rolls of the Districts where he does not want to vote, otherwise he may find himself dragged before two Justices of the Peace, besides being deprived of ail votes. The Bill, like most of our Acts, is a wretched specimen of draughtsmanship, and it occurs to us that many hardships may arose under this Bill which were not perhaps intended. Under this section the elector registered on two rolls has to give notice to the Registrar of the District in which he wishes to vote of his desire to be retained on the roll of such district. That Registrar is to inform all the other Registrars of districts on the rolls of which he notices the name of this elector, and those Registrars are then to strike the man's name off. But suppose this Registrar does not give notice to all the Registrars, or suppose that the Registrars fail to strike the name off, what happens? Is the elector to be fined and disqualified because the Registrars fail to do their duty? Moreover, the 13th section apparently only deals with those who are on more than one roll at the commencement of the Act. The 12 th I section deals with persons hereafter registering who have qualifications in more than one district. It says :— j " Every person who is entitled to be j registered as an elector in one or more districts m respect of one or more qualifications shall, at the time of making his application for registration, choose the district and the qualification in respect of which respectively he will be registered, and shall frame his claim accordingly. In this clause there is no mention of a fine and disfranchisement. Are we to understand that in the case of persons registering after the commencement of this Act that there is no punishment for double registration. It really looks rather like as if it were go. This Bill, like so many of our pieces of legislation, will probably benefit the lawyers more than anybody else.