The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1925. GET ON THE ROLL!

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 March 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1925. GET ON THE ROLL!

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normnnby, Okaiawa, E.iham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Uirleyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia. Whnkamara, Ohangai, Meremere, Fraser lioad, and Ararat*.

By to-morrow evening all persons m New Zealand who, being eligible as Parliamentary electors, have not enrolled under the provisions of the new Aot, will be law-breakers. That is a plain fact which has to be faced, and the obligation is on every adult individually to. see that hits card has been filled in. The law may be an a«s in this particular matter, but it is still the law, and those who fail to comply with its requirements lay themselves open to a penalty. Quite apart from that consideration, however, the citizen is not worthy of the name who does not trouble to avail himself of the privileges of the franchise. Good British blood lias been spilled, and hundreds of stout hearts have been well nigh broken, in the fight which has won for present-day* democracy its rights. To hold those rights so cheaply as not to trouble about enrolling, or voting, is to insult the. memory of the patriots who have led the struggle for liberty right through English history, from Magna. Charta onwards. Really there should be no need for such an Aot as that now m operation here; the opportunity of sharing in ' the government of the country should be itself sufficien t to bring every eligible person hot-footed to the registrar of electors, and later to the polling booth. But the day of a fully enlightened democracy is not yet ; and Parliament in this country has attempted to rouse people to a. sense of their political responsibilities by making enrolment compulsory. It is not a compliment to the country time such a law should have been considered necessary; it Hi ibe still lesis so if even the threat of prosecution for failure to. enrol finds isome still ap,a the tic. Tt becomes a habit with many people to. leave everything until the last possible moment, which, may account for the poor response in the earlier weeks of enrolment; '.nit the last moment is at hand, and those who are defaulters twenty-four hours hence will have left things too late. It matters not that one’s name was on the roll, last Election and that he voted then. The old rolls will be cancelled when the new lists —compiled from the compulsory registrations—are proclaimed. Unless a voter registers again under the new Act, his name will not appear on the roll. There is one day more! . .