ELECTION PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17333, 3 December 1919, Page 10

ELECTION PROBLEMS.

MAORIS AND LICENSING. VOTES ON DECLARATION. . OFFICIAL DECISIONS. ' The question has been raised whether discharged Maori soldiers are entitled to vote at the coming licensing poll. The Electoral Department, from which guidance was sought on the point, has replied that these ex-soldiers may vote at such polls, but they have not electoral rights in the election of European members of Parliament or in the local restoration polls in no-license districts. Any Maori ex-soldier claiming a voting-paper will require to make application for it in writing, and he must produce to the returning officer his certificate of discharge from the Expeditionary Force, or other documents sufficient to prove that he is or was a member of that force. Another moot point which has arisen in connection with the coming elections is what is the official roll in relation to claims to vote on declaration of having voted at the last'election. The Department has determined that .the roll on which the claiming declarant's vote must have appeared is either that for the 1914 election or for any by-election since that time. It is made clear that the fact of having voted in the licensing referendum of April last does not confer the right to claim a voting-paper this mbnth. , NAMES ON THE ROLL. i i —: THE PROCESS OF PURIFYING. EXTENSIVE ALTERATIONS. INCREASE OVER LAST ELECTION. i """" The registration electors throughout the Dominion' ceased on Friday evening i last, the day on which the writs for the i general election were issued in Wellington. and the various registrars are now able to give approximate figures as to the state i of the rolls which will bo used in th« i elections on December 17. Within the last few months large staffs [ have been engaged in the work of purging ' the various rolls and bringing them up U date by adding new registrations. Th< main rolls used in the licensing referen dum of April last were taken as the basis i of operations, and with the assistance oj the officers of the Postal Department e house-to-house canvass of each electorate I was made. The letter-carriers were furnished witl 5 copies of the rolls of the district in whicl i they were working, and were directed t< > inquire at the address given, with respeci i to every registered name, whether th< i person enrolled still lived there, and whai other persons entitled to the franchise j lived on the premises. To every persoi - who was found neither to reside at Iris j or her last electoral address nor at som< > other address in the same electorate, i registered letter was then sent by th< . registrar objecting to the retention of th< I name upon the , Parliamentary roIL I I the registered letter was returned by th< > Post Office with a certificate of inability I to find the addressee, the name was struct off the roll. Where, on the other hand 5 the person objected to was found, ant , was able to make good the claim to v<rt« in his or her old electorate, the name . was retained. ' The New Electorates. In a population bo much given to migration as that of New Zealand, extensive 1 changes are to bo looked for at every re- " vision of the electoral districts. There is, ' however, the important circumstance to 1 be remembered that since the April voting . a complete recasting of electorates has i taken place, as the result of the work ol I the Representation Commissioners, under ! which the increase of population in the i North Island has entitled it to the creai tion of three new e'ectorates, two of them i in the Auckland provincial district . kill and Rotorua*— that the inter. . position of Roskill in the Auckland Metropolitan congeries of constituencies has I caused material alteration in the boundaries of all the adjacent electorates. • ' The most remarkable result as regards i the rolls is that of the Auckland Central I electorate. There the main roll, when delivered to the letter-carriers for their 3 investigations, bore .11,973 names. The . number since struck off, under the process I jifst described, is 4200, and transfers to other electorates bring up the total naml ber removed from the roll to 5060, or well on toward 50 per cent, of the roll strength of a few months ago. Recent registrations, l however, restore the voting strength of r the district for the pending election to 3 9873. » I Auckland East and Wast. 1 ! Again, in Auckland East a roll of 10,563 " names has been reduced by 3349 cancellas tions and transfers, but the supplementary ' roll brings the total back to 10,879. In 1 . Auckland West the main roll showed J 10,779 electors, of whom 2960 were struck u off or transferred, and the present total ' I is 10,457. " I Grey Lynn started out in the latest re ' vision with 9443 names, of which 1865 3 either went off by cancellation or transfer, out the supplementary enrolments 3 bring out- a present total of 10,051. par--1 nell electors to the number of 11,013 ap- " peared on the main roll, but 1700 disf appeared in the purging or transfer process, and the present registration is 11,713. The present state of the various roils 8 as compared with those of April last and '» those used in the last general election u 1 set forth in the following table: s 7 April, Dec! 191*. 1819. 1919 ~ Auckland Central .. 9,11-1 8,737 9 87! Auckland Bast .. 9.746 9,094 10,871 Auckland West .. 9.895 10 608 10,45' •I ! Grey Lynn .. .. 9,994 10,295 10,05" v , P»rneU .. .. 11,287 12,566 11,71! Eden .. .. .. 11 239 13,201 7.73! Waitemata .. .. 10.444 9,744 10 22! Manukau .. .- 11.103 8,679 8,44Ro3kill (new electorate) — — 10,99' [| TO-NIGHT'S PUBLIC ADDRESSES. 1 Mr, J. J. Thomas (Auckland Central) e Newton East School. Mr. A. J. Entrican (Auckland West), Rich mond Road Public School. 3 Mr. W. E. Parry (Auckland Central), St James' Hall, Wellington Street, i Mr. T. Blood worth (Parnell), Kohimaram; a Mr. V. H. Potter (Roskill), Chamber o: i Commerce, 1.30 p.m. . Mr. F. W. Peddle {Roskill), Public f Library, Epsom. i- ' Mr. G. Davis (Roskill), Methodist Churcl: i I Schoolroom, corner Mount Eden and i j Gordon Roads. - Mr. F. Bartram (Grey Lynn), St. Barna f ' bas' Hall, Mount Eden. - Sir Frederick Lang (Manukau), Public r ' School, Mangere Bridge. 6 Mr. C. E. Major (Manukau), Pakurangj e Public School. r I Mr. H. G. R. Mason (Manukau), Lyceun • Theatre, Onehunga. 7 Mr. C. J- Parr (Eden), Public Hall a Woodhill. : 1 Mr. R. E. Hornblow (Eden), Public Hall LI Waikumete. - Mr. A. Harris, M.P. (Waitemata), Glen ', field School. fc Mr. A. E. Greenslade (Waitemata), Paris! !> Hall, Devonport. 8 Mr. J. Ilea (Franklin), Huuua. lf Mr. J'. A. Young (Waikato), Mangapiko, J i p.m. ; Hairini, 8 p.m. Mr. P- H. Watts (Wafkato), Y Mr. W. J. Jordan (Raglan), On^whero. I TO-NIGHT'S COMMITTEE MEETINGS. ' Mr. V. H. Potter (Roskill), Balmoral Road, off Dominion' Road. „ Sir Frederick Larig (Manuakau), Holmes' Hall, Onehunga, * ' Mr. C. J. Parr (Eden), Mount Albert com mittee, King George's Hall, Mount " j Albert.