ELECTORAL CENSUS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1539, 7 September 1912, Page 9

ELECTORAL CENSUS.

STOUTLY DEFENDED. EEPOET BY ELECTOEAL OPFICEE. A report by the Chief Electoral Officer (Mr. I'. W. .Mansfield) upon the electoral census carried out in 1911 in connection with the compilation and'purging''of the rolls,-was presented to. tho House of Representatives on Wednesday. Jlr. Mansfield enters into an elaborate deienco of tho census, and expresses regret at tho fact that its operation was to some extent interfered with by a short amending Act passed at the end of the session of 1911. He points out that between the general elections of 1908 and 1911 there was cvideuce of considerable movement in population in various par'e of the country, in consequence of which tho rolls, by the middle of 1911, were known by registrars to bo in an exceedingly imperfect condition. . ' "In 1910 the Postal Department advised," thi\ report continues, "that the number of alterations in addresses recorded at each of tho four centres—viz., Auckland, Wellington, C'hristchurcli, and Dunedin— was upwards of 1-100 per month, and, as there had been during tho triennial period a renaming of many of tho streets, and a renumbering of the houses in these centres, it became very evident that tho rolls required considerable correction, and it was considered that only by a complete and effective method of enumeration could this bo satisfactorily done. / "An electoral census was therefore carried out in terms of Section G of the Legislature Amendment Act; 1910, on the lines of the metJiods adopted in Victoria and Western Australia, for the-purpose of—(a) Correcting the existing rolls;■ _(b) obtaining fresh enrolments; (c) disclosing non-residence, to'enable the registrar to take the usual steps to purge from the roll tho names of all those who had left the district since the previous compile tion." • Census Results,. The report goes oh to detail the methods under which the census- was carried out in town and country, and io state that the census showed that the rolls were sadly in need of a thorough revision. Altogether there, were upwards of 1G9.000 fresh enrolments effected, 118,000 corrections in addresses, etc., obtained, and over 75,000 cases of non-residence in the various districts disclosed. In many instance') there were over -1000 fresh enrolments effected, find upwards of 3000 eases of nonresidence disclosed, as. well, as over 1000 alterations in addresses, recorded in a single electorate. An Unfortunate Result. ' In the city electorates, Mr. Mansfield states,' notices staling that names would bo removed from the rolls on account of non-residence were posted in error in a few cases to bona-fido .residents. "They naturally," he contiuui'S, "resented beine informed by the registrar, per notice, that their names were to be removed on the gronnds of non-residence; but. instead' of advising him of their bona iides by menus of the form of appeal, and specially addressed envelope enclosed with their notice, some of thorn wrolo to the press, or complained to members of Parliament, with' the unfortunate result (hat a short amending Act was passed at tlw end. ol the w*ion of 1911 providing that objections to the retention of names upon the roll wore not to be made on Hie erounds of the electoral census, nndthat all names already removed.on these grounds were to be .restored to the roll forthwith.'; The result was that there were restored to, or allowed to remain on, the roll? n\er 41.UUH namespractically all of which, there can be no doubt, had no right to remain thereon, and thus tho usefulness of, Hβ cKs.so far as the cleansing of the rolls Was concerned, was completely dultified.

,'.-.' .Protests by Registrars. "Main- registrars protested strongly against' having to. restore huiulrcds ;of name" to the roll .which they wore qmfo Sect had no hrMIo. be there, nnd in «orae instances, to my subsequent knowledge, the new/amendment.Act■ wasouiefly Trhorcd aii(V'-(M*nrsiiig-of-,thc-.-voll-rtav-ricdoub in accordance Willi .Hie original from registrars a return, of. the renins or Hio electoral ■•census, , and a report _as to its "cnoral- utility- in-effecting fresh enrolments, correcting-addresses, ec, on tie roll, and disclosing non-residenco in tne electorate. ; The reports received disclose a strong preponderance of opinion that the census was a very effective instrument in-obtaining fresh enrolments nnd amending the existing roll, and the returns accompanying these reports demonstrate that if it had been carried out as originally intended the* rolls would have been pureed of a considerable number of names which' subsequent events strongly indicated had no right to be thereon. Good Work Interfered With. "Tbo electoral census," he . continue-', "undoubtedly gave registrars an opportunity such as they never had before tor compiling-complete and-clean rolls,-and I have yo hesitation in. stating that, had their work not been interfered with, we would have had as nearly perfect rolls as it is humanly possible to get. ' "However, with a total enrolment for tho -Dominion of-590,012 electors, there were 97,130 non-voters, and,it is lnghly probablo that a. substantial; number of the c e were, 'restored' names, duo to the Amendment Act of 1911. In Wellington North and Wellington Central, for instance, there"'were 2754 and 2753 nonvoters ' respectively, which is a strong indication, of the overloaded condition _ of theso rolls, ospecialy when wo consider that in Wellington Central, where- there was a second ballot, the non-voters referred to did not show up at either ballot. As the contests in these electorates occasioned considerable ..interest on the part of the electors, it can only he concluded that tho largo percentage of non-voters was almost entirely duo to overloaded rolls. "In Auckland Central there were only twenty short of 3000 non-voters; and even in Piirnell, where the contest was ex-, cccdingly. keen, and a second ballot was held, the number of non-voters was Ml 5.

Average Voting. "Although the average percentage of voting for the Dominion was 83.51. per cent of those on.tho roll (many■ electorates obtained over SO per cent), (he.percentage of voting, in 'Auckland Central, Wellington -North, and .Wellington Central was only 72.15, 71.15, and 71.16 respectively. "Nevertheless, the percentage of voter. , ) to those on the. roll for tho Dominion won higher, than at any previous election, and considerably higher than wus attained in any of the Australian State*; but I am strongly of opinion that but for the indiscriminate restoration of over -11,01)0 names to ihe roll the average- percentage of voting'would have been i or 5 per cent higher. "The reports of registrars bear tinniietakablo testimony to the general utility and success of the electoral census nsi a means of compiling and'amending tho rolls. 'Tho Department has always been, faced with tho difficulty of keening the rolls in n, reasonably clean condition, as overloaded rolls arc a standing invitation to irregularities in connection with elections, and a menace to clean and proper polling.. It was in (ho interests, therefore, of a good election conducted with clean rolls that the electoral census of 1911 was carried cut, and, although its general results wcr6 most satisfactory, and. to my mind, fully justified the o'xpemlitniv, much greater benefit might, have Ix'cmi obtained hail tho fullest advantage been taken of the information ob-' taiued for.tho purpose of rnll-pnrginj, as originally proposed by the Department. "Tho cost of tho electoral census was .C729G. At a Inter date I intend to submit proposals for the compilation and purging of the. rolls by menus of an enumeration tarried out largely with the assistance- and co-operation of the Police and ViHiil' Departments at a emnn.irativcly small cost, to the country. In Australia, registrar* avail thomwjves largely of the assistance of the police in connection with the compilation and purgin" of the rolls." " "