ROLL CHECKING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18275, 16 December 1922, Page 1 (Supplement)

ROLL CHECKING.

A CANVASSER'S EXPERIENCE. BT O. Cheerfully I said that I would help th» " Cause." At the central office they allotted to me a certain district, and gave me a long list of names to check for a start. All I had to do was to go from house to house, inquire discreetly if each occupier was on the roll, and leave enrolment forms if not. Sounds very simple, does it not ? But like many simple things, it got somewhat complex later on.

Have you ever studied an electoral roll ? You will be struck by the similarity of many names, and the queerness of others. Now if you are a conscientious roll " cleaner" you will most certainly not be satisfied if you are told: " Yes, Mr. Jones lives here." You will proceed to assure yourself that he is the alleged John Albert Jones down on the roll. Also that Dorothy May, presumably his daughter, is still living in the paternal residence. And is it true that he has a boarder who is not yet enrolled, and that Mrs. Jones ia dead? Plenty of opportunity for diplomacy of a very high order here!

At one house I meekly went round to the back, as the front door was most aggressively shut. It was Monday morning, so of course I found the lady of the house deep in the family wash. Somewhat apprehensively I asked her was sse on the roll. Wearily she wiped her hands on her apron, pushed back a wisp of hair that was obstructing her vision, and contemplating me with lack-lustre eyes, said, " You're only the fourth that ha B asked me that this morning."

Profusely I apologised, remarking tentatively that " Wo were making sure that all citizens had the chance to vote—once."

"Do you think you'll get it?" she asked suddenly.

" Get what?" I countered with assumed innocence.

" You're surely not working for * Them,' she demanded, aghast at my last flippant question.

" Oh, not," I answered fervently.

She relaxed, invited me in for a cup of morning tea, and an we were drinking it, said musingly, " I knew you were for Prohibition."

rne lady of the next house rather shattered my belief in my anti-Trade looks. " Who are you working for, Brewers, Moderates, or Prohibitionists?" she asked, uncompromisingly. Rather startled I told her.

" There are just as respectable people on all three sides, and there are just as many cranks—look at tho clergy," was her somewhat ambiguous assertion.

Educating the Voters. Distributing literature sounds quite light work. In practice it becomes rather tedious and trying. With a friend who gallantly came to the rescue, I started out one day, heavily laden; and with a righteous wish to place each paper to the best advantage for catching the householder's eye. I gaily entered one garden with the object of placing tho magazine safely in the letter box on the verandah. But a dog which apparently suddenly launched itself into space, made unmistakable signs of daring me to proceed further. With dexterous swiftness I retreated to the safo side of the gate, and then flung the paper on to the path. The dog, growling, commenced to worry "Public Opinion " with the baffled fury of one grasping the shadow when he might have got the substance. Discretion certainly is the better part of valour!

The encounter must have shaken my moral courage as well as physical, for I persuaded my friend to leave the memento of our visit at one shop, while I passed by on the other side. This was because the shopekeper was an agent for the " others," and he knew me.

There are two boys in this electorate who undoubtedly in the far future will be famous financiers. We heard afterwards that they collected some of these freely flung periodicals, and going to districts further afield sold them to guileless householders at a penny each! No Desire To Vote. One evening I walked two or three miles to see a man who was not on the roll. After the necessary preliminary assurances of his identity, I proffered him a form. " I don't believe :;n prohibition," he said suavely. Resignedly I murmured: "I am here to see that all qualified persons are put on the roll." " You're not calh'ng to tell me how to vote then?" he increduously. "I don't believe in this asking which way you're going to vote. You're a prohibitionist!" he added accusingly. "Yes, I am," I answered firmly; "but I haven't asked you which way you'll vote." 0 "I believe in educating the people," he began again. "So do I," I responded. Rather disconcerted, he tried a, flank attack. "Do you know I've been a keeper at Avondale, and I tell you there aro more people brought there through drinking tea than ftrong drink." I was momentarily made speechless by this outrageous statement. "I used to drink six cups of tea to every meal myself," he added as a clinching argument. "I don't believe in prohibition, but I don't believe in continuance or State control either, so I won't vote at all." Reflectively I turned toward home. I thought it was quito possible the man had been in Avondale—but not as a keeper. Long Weary Walks. By post one morning came a list of names. It appeared that similar names were on other electoral rolls. Would I please see if this was the result of coincidence, carelessness, or deep-dyed crime! The addresses given were scattered, and I do not own even a Ford. After several long weary walks it was obvious that "someone had blundered." However, a hospitable lady asked me in for a drink of tea, so that, refreshed, 1 Mas beginning to feel more charitably disposed toward my fellow men. This lady lived at the end of a newly-mado mad, and there is no need to go far from Auckland to find rich specimens of clay and mud.

On the day the rolls closed we were kept busy. There always will be some people who leave everything to the last moment. Others, with the vaguest ideas of dates, plaintively said that they thought it was the following week enrolment ceased. While cithers agaiii optimistically expected that the lawwould stretch a little to cover belated applications, . . . But we all know that tapci will mvts. become elastic , ,