The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1879.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 1481, 20 June 1879, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1879.

Mb Bryce's report upon the Bay of Bay of Islands electoral roll case, is not satisfactory from any point of view, and, as it leads to no practical result, it can hardly be considered worth the expenses of the Commission. The general public probably know veiy little about this affair, and take very little interest m it. Yet it is not by any means unimportant, as far as the constitutional question involved mit is concerned. It was first brought publicly forward last session by a petition to the House of Representatives from a number of natives m the Bay of Islands, complaining that their names had been illegally placed on the electoral roll of that district. This may seem a strange cause of complaint, because whatever wrong might be inflicted on duly qualified electors through their names being struck off an electoral roll, no possible harm could be done to them by their names being put on a roll. They need not exercise the right to vote, thus acquired, unless they liked ; but whether they were lawfully entitled to it or not, they, personally, were on the safe Bide. This strange petition, however, was referred to the Native Affairs Committee, and that body soon found that there was a very ugly and troublesome business, hidden under the apparently absurd complaint of the Bay of Islands natives. It quickly became evident that European party politics furnished the real casus belli, and that the prayer of the involuntary electors was a mere formal fiction for bringing the matter into court. The petition was virtually a charge against the Government of having, by manipulating the electoral officers, endeavored to gain for a political supporter, the control of the Bay of Islands seat. The facts were briefly these. Mr Williams, the Registration Officer for the district, had m that capacity objected to about four hundred persons m whose name claims to be registered as electors had been sent m. Just before the date fixed for healing the objections, however, the Government suddenly dismissed Mr Williams from his office, not on the ground of any alleged misconduct, for his character stood high, and no complaints had been made against him, but solely on the ground that they deemed it inexpedient that the brother of the sitting member should hold an electoral office. They appointed m his place an inexperienced person who knew nothing of the responsibilities of his position. When the Revising Officer came to hear the objections, Mr Tole, M.H.R., appeared as counsel for one or more of the persons whose names were objected to, and contended that, as Mr Williams had made the objections, no one else could support them ; but that Mr Williams, having made the objections as Registration Officer, and being no longer Registration Officer, could not support them. Mr Lawlor, the Revising Officer, accepted this reasoning, and refused, to hear the objections. Thus the four hundred natives, whose names had been objected to, became registered electors without any enquiry as to their qualification. These, or some of them, were the people who petitioned the House to remove their names from the roll. The real meaning of the matter was, that Mr Lundon, a person who has for years aspired to be Member for the Bay of Islands, had illegally put these names on the roll m the hope of securing the seat at the next election ; while Mr Williams, the actual member for the Bay of Islands, wished to expose the evil machinations of Mr Lundon and the Government. When the petition came before the Native Affairs Committee, its actual prayer received little or no attention, but the Government were virtually put upon their trial for corrupt interference with the electoral administration. Mr Williams and Sir William Fox were the principal prosecutors, and Sir George Grey and Mr Sheehan the principal defendants. Mr Wakefield and other disinterested Members, occasionally took a languid part m the dispute, but seem mainly to have endeavored — though vainly — to keep the peace and to get at the facts. Delay followed delay ; and squabble followed squabble ; but no prospect of any decision being arrived at ever appeared. The object of the one side clearly was to procure a report censuring the Government, and that of the other, to get the whole affair quietly shelved. A compromise was ultimately agreed to, by which an impartial Commissioner was to enquire into the facts during the recess. The Government selected Mr Bryce, Chairman of the Native Affairs Committee, for the post ; and his report is now before the public. The whole point sit issue is the purpose of the Government m removing Mr Williams from his office of Registration Officer, just before the time fixed for hearing the objections to the the Bay of Islands electoral roll. On that point Mr Bryce's report is undecided. He says that " the conduct of the Government was inconsiderate, injudicious and objectionable ;" but he adds that he does not believe that their intention was to prevent the objections from being heard. We must say, we find it difficult to reconcile these two. opinions/, Mr Bryce- does not hesitate, m other parta^bf his report, to go very fully, into particulars as to the party tactics and private objects of the persons concerned. in the enquiry; but when he comes to deal with the share which the Government had m the matter, ■. he altogether fails to apply to

them the same kind of argument from motives. In order that the action of the Government may be fairly judged of, though, it ought to be stated that Mr Lundon is a special protege of Sir George Grey, and that on the occasion of his contesting the Bay of Islands seat with Mr Williams, Sir George Grey wrote to the Bay of Islands natives, asking them to support Mr Lundon as " his friend." It ought further to be borne m mind that Mr Tole is another special protege of Sir George Grey, and that when he appeared to defend the claims to vote which Mr Lundon had caused to be made, he presumedly did so m Sir George Grey's interest. It may also be casually mentioned that the affinity between Sir George Grey and Mr Williams' whole family, is analogous to that proverbially existing between the Devil and holy water. He hates them dearly. If, therefore, it was nothing more than an unfortunate accident that Mr Williams was dismissed m the nick of time to enable Mr Tole to get four hundred of Mr Lundon's friends put illegally on the electoral roll of the Bay of Islands, it certainly was a most extraordinary coincidence. Had Mr Williams been dismissed earlier, the objections would no doubt have been made m due course, either by his successor or by some private person. Had he been dismissed only a few days later, he would have had an opportunity to represent his objections to the Revising Court, and, as now appears from Mr Bryce's report, would have successfully upheld them. But he was dismissed on the very day which suited Mr Tole, and gave him the chance to intervene between the Registration Officer and the Revising Officer. The fallacy of Mr Tole's argument is ludicrously obvious. He held that Mr Williams having made the objections, Mr Williams alone could support them ; but that, having made them as Registration Officer, he could only support them as Registration Officer, which office he no longer held. Ergo, that nobody could support them. We need not explain that the objections were made by the Registration Officer m his official capacity, without respect to his personality ; and that " the Registration Officer " for the time, whoever he might be, was legally the proper person to support them. The only explanation that occurs to us, of Mr Lawlor's decision m favor of Mr Tole's audacious argument, is that he .was either an idiot or a partisan. Mr Bryce seems to incline to the former hypothesis, for he say, ironically no doubt, that Mr Lawlor is unfit to be revising officer m a district where " difficult questions " may arise. " Difficult questions " is very severe. We incline to the latter hypothesis ; and taking all the facts and circumstances into view at once, we come irresistibly to the conclusion that the whole of the proceedings were premeditated and arranged by Mr Lundon and Mr Tole, with the complicity and assistance of the Government and their officials. Mr Bryce moralises very prettily at the close of his report, upon the arbitrary exercise of power and political manoeuvres, when removed from the control of public opinion. He refers, probably, to the petty faction fights m the Bay of Islands ; but public opinion has been brought by his report, to bear upon a much larger field than that. The Government of the colony stand arraigned of having scandalously and arbitrarily abused their powers for the purpose of effecting political manoeuvres; and, whatever Mr Biyce may think, we are convinced that, on his evidence, public opinion will condemn them.