ELECTORS DISFRANCHISED.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 15079, 29 November 1919, Page 8

ELECTORS DISFRANCHISED.

Mr. W. D. S. Mac Donald called at- ! tention to-day to a serious matter which '. has occurred m connection with the Bay of Plenty electorate. Ascertaining that i there were a number of electors who found their .names td be off the roll he •telegraphed to the Registrar of Electors at Opotiki and was informed that 1500 objections had been sent to names on the roll m the Poverty Bay .- section of the electorate, and so" far he had received! only 30 rep'ies. The procedure followed when an objection is lodged is to strike the name off the roll, leavin;,' the responsibility for securing reinstatement upon the elector concerned. However, owing :to the diflioul ie=< of rommunication m this electorate, it is quite j impossible for people whose names have! been objected to to cet into touch wi'h the Registrar at Opotiki within the time available and as the final prin^in^ of the roll takes nlaco o>_ Monday the names of most of the 1500, many of whom are Mr. MacporeiVd's constituents, wjl! be left out. Amontfs 1 . these is one wellknoirn pettier who has been jn the district for* 40 years, and 30 people at the Kaitnratahi freezing works. As phowine- how unsuitable Opotiki is ns tho^ centre for tbis electorate, a letter notifying an elector that an objection had been lodged and that his name had been struck off, was .dated m. the Registrar's offlco on November 20 1 it bore the Opotiki postmark of November 25, and reached Gisborne on November 28. I In the case of a notice from Te Araroa [ it would probably be December 4 before sue ha letter could reach the addressee, and it mifirbt. take nearly a fortnieht for the reply to get back to Ofiotiki. Mr. Mac Donald Btates that a fairer procedure would have been simply J to query the names on the roll, but the ! Opotiki Registrar m striking the names I, out was evidently acting under inßtruc- ■ tinn« from ihe Registrar-General at * WclUnftpn,