The Electoral Bill.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7180, 3 June 1891, Page 2

The Electoral Bill.

The principal novelties can be seen at i a glance. First, there will be one law , instead of nine for the unfortunate people ' to obey ; second, a man can be registered • only in one district, bo that it is impossible j for him to vote more than once j third, < every man must vote on pain of being j struck off the roll ; fourth, the death of a ! candidate invalidates all the proceedings, which must be begun all over again in his district ; fifth, you must not bat on the result of an election — not even a new hat —on pain of a J220 fine ; sixth, people who have to move about much are not disqualified from voting on their residential qualification, provided that within six months of the election they spend six days — not necesiarily consecutive — in their district. The only thing that has been objected to seriously in theie proposals is the compulsory voting. Now if a man values his privilege, why should he object to the compulsion to use it ? The proposed law will take caro that there ia no hardship by providing a list of exceptions sufficient to cover all the accidents to which human affairs are liable, such as sickness of self or friends or family, or immense pressure of business, and so forth. If no man ever had a more serious grievance than a compulsion to vote, the world would be a very happy place to live in. By the way, there ii one other provision of the new law. Every election day is to be a public holiday. That provision, we fear, will cause more discontent than satisfaction, and may lead more to the profit of the publican than to the profit of anybody else. For our part, we think that to increase the hours of polling would prevent any man having to lose wages or working time in order to exerciiehie voting privilege. On the whole, however, the Electoral Bill is a simple, effective, excellent measure.