MAORI M.P. CRITICISED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1080, 18 September 1930, Page 1

MAORI M.P. CRITICISED

INTEGRITY OF NORTHERN . VOTERS BUT THERE ARE ELECTION ANOMALIES TWO prominent Auckland Maoris took the member of Parliament for Southern Maori to task this morning; for his allegation that corrupt practices existed among the voters in Maori elections in the North Island. “Are South Island Maoris of greater integrity than those in the North?” asked one. While Mr. T. H. Makitanara was criticised on this point, the natives agreed that the present system of voting in Maori elections was open to abuse.

They said all right-thinking Maoris in the North Island would agree with contention that the system should be altered to prevent corrupt practices. On the other hand, there could be no excuse for Mr. Alakitanara for his direct allegations against North Island Maoris. “The same system of voting applies in the Southern Maori electorate as in the three North Island electorates,” one native said. “The same abuses could take place. Mr. Makitauara has made au unfair charge and it should be substantiated. Will he say that the corruption alleged to have taken place in the North cannot take place in the South? "His allegation is ill-considered and is certain to arouse a good deal of resentment, particularly because Maori electors are showing increasing interest in politics.” One Auckland Maori who has had considerable experience as a returning officer in Maori elections mentioned astonishing circumstances in connection with the system of voting. “In all my experience as a returning officer,” he said, “I have not yet seen a roll of Maori elec tors. There is no check on Maori voting. A native could vote in Auckland City in the Northern Maori electorate, and then take a bus to Mangere to vote in the Western Maori electorate under an entirely different name.

“I am not saying that such abuses i have taken place, but they ran take 1 place. A South Island Maori could i come to the North Island and vote in a different electorate.” Under the present system, the returning officer is furnished only with a voting paper, printed in English with spaces for the name of the voter, the Eex, the tribe, the hapu or subtribe, and the place of abode. The returning officer simply asks the voter questions and records the answers. There Is an associate who signs and countersigns the paper. “Voters have actually asked pie, as returning officer, whom they should vote for,” the returning officer said. “If I had been a supporter of any particular candidate, I could have advised the electors to vote fo» that particular man. "The absence of any means of checking a vote is the principal fault with the system, and it should be remedied

immediately. The great thing in favour of the verbal system of voting is that there are no informal votes, as the returning officer simply records the answers accurately. But it can be seen that returning officers should be men of the greatest integrity.’ The returning officer also advocated : the printing of the voting papers in Maori, as many natives were not able |to understand written English. The returning officers should also have a knowledge of the tribes and the subtribes throughout New Zealand. Both natives said they were merely showing that abuses were possible, as Mr. Makitanara contended, but all northern Maoris would object to the inferences of the Southern member.