ELECTORS WHO CANNOT VOTE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13749, 11 September 1908, Page 2

ELECTORS WHO CANNOT VOTE.

; t AUCKLAND, Sept. 10. There are at least eight eligible elSfetors in New Zealand who are virtually disfranchised. They reside on Little i Bamer Island. They have written to the Registrar-General of Electors at Devonport to know, before enrolhng whether they would be allowed to vote by post ; otherwise they stete there is no chance of them being fcblo to vote at all. The Fitzrby post 'office would j be their nearest* polling-booth, and it is fourteen miles across the water, and e^en.if they could get across by iaeans of a boat, \ all thdt were entitled to vote could not get away. Little Barrier Island is owned by the. Government, and kept as a sanctuafy for native birds. Under the regulations that State employed inhabitants must not .all leave this island at once. -The letter 1 of Mr. Shakespeare, the head of th« island dwellers, was referred to the* Registtar-Generalf who replied that there was no provision on, the Statute for voting by post. There is power tt> issue absent voters' permits, but from a perusal of, .the Act, it is clear that /the Shakespeares are not in this category. A further difficulty confronts them in section 105, which lays. ! down that a polling booth may not be erected where there are not at least fifteen voters. ' ; j A firm of solicitors has taken the I matter up and is corresponding with^ the view of ascertaining "v^iether or not the islanders may be admitted to vote; as seamen. However, it seems that ' they are completely baulked. They can't leave the island. A booth can't' be placed on the island, because there are not sufficient voters to permit the, establishment of one, and they can't; vote as seamen unless the. island is declared to be a ship. ■ At the previous election for this (the; Waitemata) electorate, the seat was gained by a majority of one in the voting, so that eight votes would have* decided the result.