The Lyttelton Times

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 769, 21 March 1860, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times

Wednesday, March 21, 1860. Electors, take care ! A number of claims to register are being now sent in which are utterly worthless. One or two great faults occur in filling' up forms, which should be pointed out at once while' there is yet time to send in fresh claims. We earnestly trust that every man who has a ground of qualification will do his best to see that his. own- and his neighbours' claims are not rejected for want of care.

The great mistakei wbicli is being1 made is that "'the claims are filled up for Provincial Districts. It is of no use at all to make them out for these districts; theymust be filled up for some one of the larg-er districts into which the province is ■ divided for the General Assembly Elections. They ai'e— 1. Town ot Christchurch. 2. Town of Lyttelton. '" '';. ■■' 3, 'Akaroa.' '.'■■■•.;' .: - .'. „ ■.■ .'., . „•';. ; 4., County of Cheviot. ;. [.. , 5. Christchurch Country. No claim for a vote in any district but one of the above" wilLbe. attended to in this province. Perhaps it will be as well to describe : the boundaries of these districts.

1. The Town of Christchurch includes the Town as first laid out ; and also the Town

Reserves,

2. The Town of Lyttelton runs up from the sea to the top", of the range' of hills, and lies between lines drawn northward from the sea to the summit of the hill, on the west at the extreme western point of the town in Dam pier's Bay, and on the east at the extreme point of the Town Eeserve in Pplhill's Bay. : ; , ; 3. The Akaroa District is bounded, on the west by a line drawn due south from a point midway between the east head of Port Levy and the west head of Pigeon Bay. [Little River, Ikoraid, and Piraki are not in the Aukaroa district.] „- ' .';"...'■'.',,...

, 4. The.Cheviot district lies to the north of the River Ashley, and. includes also part of the.province of Nelson. ; ' -

5. The Christchurch Country district comprises all the rest of the province of Canterbury. ''■■'"■ '■';■■ :_;': :V. •■"'■'. •,' ■"• ..,; '.

The 'form' in -which the J claim is to be made out can be'readily obtained in Lyttelton and Christchurch j but claimants resident in •the country; may be glad to be informed again how to do it." The following is the form :— r : '-'-';.\ ■■ ■')":.-; :}'-"/."-. '"' ;' To the Registration Officer of the Electoral Dis- •' - , ■'■trict of——*.:•'■• ;■ '.• '.'• .' :: .■■ , ; -:-- .-;■■■ I hereby give you notice that I claim to have my Name inserted in the List of "Voters for the Electoral District of—i—, and that the particuiars of my Place of Abode and Qualification are stated iri the columns below. ' , ' ■ (Signature) r ——■ , .Christian and m . - T Place whprs nm . -PlfiPG TynfnrA *lttLD wutrre pro" : Surname of the .™ Na^ c petty situate, and ■ ■«♦ f llTpnith Abode. Qualiacation. "3 mV r deßCri P.at full length. ,• ■„ •":.•-. , tionofsame.

I the above named ■';."'--, do heveby ■ declare that the particulars, of my Abode arid Qualm"cation as stated or^ referred to in my notice of claim above written,in the the above columns, are true to- the best of my knowledge and belief. - Signed and declaredtoat '.-r— this -——day of "~~~"in tl} e year l^O- Before me.+—, (Justice of the Peace, or Registration Officer) The declaration must be • made before a Magistoate <?r ther Registration Officer. VWe

venture' to suggest Mat to facilitate matters the Eegistration Officer might arrange either for himself or for some Justice of the Peace to visit outlying districts such as Pigeon.Bay, Oxford, the South Country, and so on, on $v day to be agreed upon, for the filling up of these declarations. ' Now for the way to set about the tilling up. The two towns and the Akaroa district are easy enough; for the! boundaries are pretty, much alike for both General and .Provincial Elections. The one thing to remember is that the number of the. section where the property is situated* should/if possible be given in the last column.:. If this is not possible, some other description, as explicit as possible, should be1 written in plain terms. V The Christchurch Country district and the : Cheviot, district between, them include the seven provincial districts of Ashley, Kaiapoi, Avon, Heathcote; -Rakaia, Port Victoria and Timaru. When the two general rolls are completed the Eegistration Officer will .divide them into these seven others, and in this way electors;^iU find themselves_entitled to votjj at elections for thetProvincial CounciL, All who get upon the Cheviot roll for the Canterbury side will be entitled to vote also for the Ashley district; "and; so will those who base their qualification otfspme property comprised between the Waim|feariri and: ;the Ashley, westward of Kangssra. 'Those who name somep lace ;with&ijhe Kaiapoi district for: their qualification" will" : in like manner be in the , first place .•electors'-- of the Christchurch country district for v the General Assembly; and in the division | afterwards (with which they have nothing to do) they will find their names placed^ on- th^ Kaiapoi district provincial roJL And so on with Avon, Heathcpte, Port' Victoria, Rakaia, and •: Timaru. The claim must be made out for the; whole Country district; then, the number or locality of the property being described in .the claim itself, the title of the claimant to a vote in his own special district will be at ..once ascertained. In short, a properly made out claim for the General Assembly district is all that is necessary; the rest will follow- of itself. ■ The little intricacies involved in the slight change of boundary;of Lyttelton and Akaroa as provincial districts'need riot be considered. If the rule given above is strictly'followed, the claim is safej;;only the Registration Officer need make himself, master of the details. '„; . '■.', ■. .. ; :•-■■

If any man has a claim in two or more districts for, the Provincial. Council, comprised in the •' large Country District," he must recollect that they only form together one claim for [the General Assembly. But to. secure his various* Provincial votes, he must take care in filling up the one form of claim to give his; two or more distinct grounds of qualification numbered consecutively, and each having its separate description in full. The Registration officer will then find no difficulty in placing tlie'name on every one of the several rolls. It" jwll be well to add to each qualification wqrds such as " In the Avon district" or "Claim for Kaiapoi for the Provincial Council."

Persons having a property in the town of Lyttelton and another in its suburbs ought to mention both in their claim for the town.

The qualification of ah. elector is threefold. He must be of the full' age of 21 years/ andi not an alien nor a felon, and must1 have— f 1. A freehold estate in possession, worthS £50 above all charges and-incumbranees, and! which has been his own either at law or irif equity, since the the 31st day -of October last./! 2./ Or, a leasehold property of the clear annual'value of £10, held on a lease havings run at least three years' by the 30th. off April (next month) or having* still three years] to run on that day. : i 3. Or, a house in his occupation, worth £10 1 a year if in a town—or, £5 a year if in the f country —in which he has resided since thef 31st of October last, f ' | All men having1 one of the three qualifi| cations.here mentioned are entitled to.claim a/ vote for the district in which their qualification^ is situated. Butthe-ciaim mustbe; properly? made out or it will not be attended to. We strongly recommend every man who is noi certain that his name is on the roll already |jo have a claim put in this time • and if he has"* made a claim; and is conscious of any incovrf rectness having slipped into it, let him make it out again correctly, and at once. It seems that every man must make out, or at any rate sign his own claim. If he cannot write, he should get his mark witnessed by the Registration officer or the Justice of the Peace before, whom he' makes the declaration. . ,:.-... . v. : '. V.■■:■

The cl&ims when complete must be sent in to the Registration officer j those for Lytteltonand Chris tchtu'ch to the respective Resident Magistrates' Courts--those for the Country, to the office :in either / town, or to Kaiapoi or Timaru; those for Akaroa, to the office there; and those for' Cheviot, to Mr. G.L. Lee—we don!t know where. , They must reach by four o'clock on the 31st of March (this month). i We have done what we could to make this confused form; of Registration intelligible. It is very much to be regretted that official intimation has not been widely given' of what is necessary in initiating this new and complicated, machinery. ; '•.■/