The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1923. GET ON THE ROLL!

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1370, 22 March 1923, Page 4

The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1923. GET ON THE ROLL!

MANY residents of Te Awamutu appear to be under the impression that the parliamentary franchise entitles them to vote at the forthcoming municipal elections, and as a consequence they will be quite disappointed on 26th April when the returning ofiicer re-

fuses them voting papers. .The proper course for intending voters is for them to at once inspect the borough burgesses’ list to -see if their names and voting qualifications appear thereon. If not. the returning officer (who is Mr D. Lockett, town clerk) will supply Lhe necessary form and receive the customary declaration. In view of the several issues to come before the burgesses on election day. burgesses should certainly get their names on the roll, for a healthy public interest in the town’s welfare and advancement is to be commended. Candidates will prefer to seek election —or re-election, as the case may be —if the voters’ list is large and representative, rather than win a seat on the votes of what must be a distinct minority of the town’s residents. Polls will be taken, if sufficient candidates offer themselves, for the Mayoralty, the Borough Council (eight seats), the borough’s representative on the Waikato Hospital Board, and two representatives on the Te Awamutu ElectricPower Board. Then there is the halfholiday issue, the Borough Council having acceded to the prayer of a petition asking that this question be deckled by the borough burgesses. It may be that by election day very much more interest will obtain than is at present manifested, so we hope qualified burgesses will take the necessary steps promptly to have their names placed on the roll. The voting qualification costs nothing. Were it otherwise, it might be that there would be an almost universal outcry for the privilege—such is human nature. The main roll has, we believe, already closed, and the supplementary roll must close in a very few days. This is the only chance the borough electors will have, in the general course of events, for two years to have a say in his .government by electing the persons he believes in. How is he utilising this rare chance? Judging by the apathy of the electors, the public does not care a little bit about the whole thing, and if it does not awaken to its opportune.', this election will go by default. Apparently people nowadays are noi very much interested in municipal elections. But the electors fcili have to put up with the Council |ky allow to be elected. We do not this in any carping spirit, but in to point out. the need burgess with the necessary getting on the roll.