Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 100, 4 December 1852, Page 4

undergone their sentence or punishment, are disqualified. The vote can only he given for the district in which the qualification exists. It is, then, those "of the inhabitants of Canterbury who possess the above mentioned qualifications, and not those alone whose names stand on the Electoral Roll already made up, that this Society desires to address. The next subject of importance appears to be, the careful consideration of what it is that the electors will have to vote for. There will be three separate elections, at each of which every elector in the district will have at least one vote, viz :-— " Ist. The election of one or more members to the House of Representatives in the General Assembly of New Zealand. 2nd. The election of a Superintendent for the Province of Canterbury. 3rd. The election of one or more members to the Provincial Council of Canterbury. I. Members of the House of Representatives. As the Act now stands, there can hardly be a doubt but that this is the most important election of the three. There are to be no less than 24, and no more than 42, members in that House, as the Governor may determine. The whole number is to he elected by the voters in all the settlements of New Zealand. Six Provinces are to be established in the colony, Canterbury being one of the six. Electoral districts are to be appointed in each province. The number of members returned from each district is to be in proportion to the number of electors in each district. Supposing, for instance, that the Governor should appoint 33, the middle number between 24 and 42, as that of the House of Representatives for the six Provinces of' New Zealand, which may be supposed to contain 5000 electors out of a white population of about 27,000 souls ; and supposing the Canterbury Settlement to contain 630 electors out of about 3400 souls, it would be entitled to return four members out of the 33. At present, however, it may be more convenient to suppose that • Canterbury would return five out of 41 members, which'is in a similar proportion; because that was the number of members appointed to be returned to the Provincial Council of New Munster under the old Ordinance. If five should be the number, and the Electoral Disttfcts should be divided as before, Lyttelton would return one member; Akaroa (that is, all that part of the Peninsula lying to the east of a line drawn between Pigeon Bay and Port Levy) one member ; Christchurch town, one'member ; and Christchurch Cpuntry, (that is, all the settlement except the three districts above named) two members. It appears at any rate highly probable that the electors of Christchurch town will have to return one member, and those of Christchurch Country one, if not two, members. It is of course possible for one elector to have a vote in each of two or more Districts. It is also possible for one plot of land, if of sufficient value, to confer two votes on different persons —one on the freeholder, and one on the tenant; while a house on the same land may entitle a third person, being the occupier, to another vote. But it is essentia! that each Elector should ascertain and remember in which of the Districts his qualification lies, or whether he has a vote in more than one District. On this, or any other point of detail, he will readily obtain information by applying to any Member of the Committee for Elections of this Society, which now consists of the following gentlemen : —Messrs. Tancred, Packer, W. Wilson, C. W. Bishop, E. Dobson, Hichens, and Spillard. The 4, or 5, members elected from this Province, together with either 29 or 36 members from the other five" Provinces, —according as the whole number may be 33 or 41,—will assemble at whatever place the Governor may appoint for the sittings of the Assembly: and there is every reason to believe that Wellington will be fixed upon, as the spot most centrally placed with regard to all the settlements. There, the House of Representatives will consider, discuss, and determine, what laws, in their opinion, should be enacted for the peace, order, and good government of the whole colony. . They will also determine how much of the whole revenue, (excepting £16,000, reserved as a Civil List over which they have no control) in their opinion, should be expended on the requirements of the Colony generally, and what