MUNICIPAL ELECTORAL LISTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12669, 3 May 1905, Page 3

MUNICIPAL ELECTORAL LISTS.

THE %QWX The Town : C3erk, Mr Virtue, in the; course of a.- conversation, with a- member of the "Herald" staff yesterday,; referred - to Mr. West'sl'comrjlaint that his name.hasL been transferred-fsom/the;districtelectors'/, list for the; southwest:w-asd W .that::of-the;-north-east, withpu:fc.lhis-.authority?. .. . • Mr Virtue pointed cipal CorporatitmscAc.t- "i\oi:-£9o9: prohibits, an elector from having his name onw.fhfir list of more thaja^n^,y^r.d I ..ev;en,,though_. he may possess qualifications for enrolment in other wards. In such, a case, .the elector may himself choose which ward .he will be enrolled in; failing his -making, a choice, it has to be made for him-by? in*/ Town Clerk.

When he took up his duties as Town Clerk,- one of Mr Vi*tMs fLrsk.'iind&ttakings .was to revise the lists for the wards of the borough. iThftJihost ieceht llists were those for 1903, and in going through them,' he found thM/ contrary-. to: the Act, there were several instances in which the name of the same person occurred' on' the list of each ward. It was his duty, therefore, to rectify that. As he only took office as clerk on March Ist, and tfes lists; had to be finished by MaT.ch sth, he had' no" time to go round to each person who was wrongly enrolled in more than one ward, and ask him which ward he would prefer. He.ithetefore.ioUowed the principle- of keeping'the elector 'in "theward in; which he had most property, and striking him out ofithe; others. . Mr Virtue showed our representative the 1903 lists for the south-west and north-east wards, Mr West's name_app_earing jn. each": As Mr West's interests in the latter y[ere greater than. ittjijhßt iqrqiiajs p» fwss'fkept in the aifd'-strtick bufFof ; the south-west. But if he wished to be put back to the" south-west,; r i<>.'would:be: done, and he would be struck off the north-east.

-In regard to Mr Bowker, that gentleman's name '-inevery way. had been applied to him, with- the result that he had'been-fcepfeiin.'the-north-east and struck off '-all .'fh«/others;". On being shown the Act, Mr Bowker agreed that he-had bo rigbtrto'be-on'moreihan one list; and that Mr' Virtue-had followed the right course', j He also stated • that he was quite satisfied with being" in the northeast ward, which was the one he would have chosen-himself;-- -He informed-Mr Virtue yesterday he had jriade -no "complaint on the*subject to Mr West, who had no authority to,-mention: his name in the matter,'.'and.he' 'authorised the Town Clerk to Igive V this.. 1 to the "Herald."'- '/^''^r""'.'-.. ,'."•' Asked if he had", formed, any. opinion on the merits pf-. ; thQ iward, system v. ?an undivided thorough,' Mr Virtue, said he had nothing'to say_beyond reraarking; that in Timaru,; the wards exist merely for the purposes of representation, as no ward accounts are kept, -«o jthjat; -except; for :the election-of Councilors,''Timaru is now an undivided borough. He had;'also found that'thfe ward system had led to some disappointment -io~ .voSerff, - who • sometimes came to! a booth to vote for a certain candidate, and found he was not standing for the ward in which they were enrolled. If the wards were abolished,' that trouble i would,„*«of course, disappear.