THE MUNICIPAL ROLLS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7355, 6 February 1911, Page 4

THE MUNICIPAL ROLLS

PURGING AND REVISION SOME OBJECTIONS Objection is taken in Trades and I*«1 hour circles to the method in which the municipal rolls, the first batch of which' were issued on Saturday, have been purged. "The roll,” says the president of the council (Mr Carey), "only contains 16,714, names, against about 33,000 names ou it at last municipal elections.. Nearly 15,000 names, those of people who did not vote, last year have been struck off. X don’t understand the principle on which it has been done. Taking a cursory glance, I find the names of at least half-a-dozen I know personally who voted last year, yet they are not on the roll. It seems that many people are to lie disfranchised at tho ensuing elections, in spite of tho fact that the intention of Parliament was tq widen the franchise. Knowing that they voted last year, they will take it for granted.that their names are still on tho roll, but many • will bo greatly ■ disappointed. Thus, why should tho onus be thrown on those who think they are on. the roll, to again see- that they are there, through the evident mistake of someone connected with the preparation of the rolls?” TOWN CLERK IN REPLY. NO INJUSTICE TO ANYONE. THE POSITION EXPLAINED, The Town Clerk, Mir J. Ri. Palmer, questioned by a "Times” reporter regarding the foregoing complaint, said: “The matter is very easily explained, The purged names aro those of people who did not vote at the last general election of mayor and councillors. ■ We are only allowed to purge the roll once every two years. Seeing that we had to use the same roll for the last mayoral election, and it was impossible to purge it last year, it is quite possible that many voted in 1910 who did not do so the year before, and .thus had their names struck off. That is why people should take every care to see that their names are on the roll .this time, and why by means of advertisement and general publicity we are repeatedly urging them to call at tho office. - • "Tho 15,000 names alluded to do not merely represent people who did not previously; vote but represent as well a very large number who never had any right to be on the roll. That is to say, hundreds of names were on the roll by duplication; in one instance tho same individual was on the roll seven times under different Christian names and locations. Names are sent in for enrolment by people who do not seem to realise the position, and collectors representing different interests call ou tho same people and send in tho samo names. Then we have had to purge the roll of a large number of people who have left the city, and of many who are dead. Tho roll is an absolutely correct one, so far as the work has procoeded. ‘This is the first occasion oh which the law" is really being carried out properly. There has never been a proper .purging of the roll before, and it is only under tho amended legislation of last session that we have been given the authority to do it. Those on the roll as ratepayers are never struck off, whether they vote or not.’ It is the great bulk of the residential voters from whom the trouble comes. Hundreds of residential voters are continually shifting their places of residence, and, unfortunately, some of them register over again, never saying a word about their address being changed; Consequently, it ; is. impossible to, identify them; The purging, however, has identified many. "The roll issued on Saturday is onlv a section of the general roll. There is so much to do in connection with it that it would never do to wait until tho last day, as the rolls could not be printed in tbe limited time given us. We are now busy with the second section, which will probably contain between 10,000 and 15,000 additional names. ‘ It must be remembered that the roll does not close, as formerly; fourteen days before the election, but' twenty-eight days before (wherever the population of a borough is over 5000). So that really the last day on which names can bo taken will bo March 29th. The Act absolutely ■ prohibits the taking of names after that day. People should therefore see it they aro on the i roll or not, and they can greatly facilitate the work of compila tiou: by. calling early." / '