West Coast Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 180, 17 April 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1866.

It would appear to bo an essential element of free political institutions, that the franchise should bo clearly defined, and tho mode of asserting it intelligibly laid down for the public information. Amongst the suggestions of political philosophers has been the establishment of an educational suffrage, restricting tho right to vote to those who display some school learning. It has, however, never been held by this school to be a necessary incident of tho educational franchise, that persons claiming [to voto under it should give proof of an acumen equal to that of a chancery lawyer. A man may be perfectly, competent to read aud write, and append any amount of artistic flourishes to his name— able even to repeat the multiplication table backwards, to do sums in vulgar fractions and compound interest— and yet not be compotent undor a complicated law to give a plain straightforward answer to the question which should be, of all others, plainest in a free state— What constitutes the legal right of citizenship ? In all countries but New Zealand, rejoicing in liberal

institutions, the object has been to simplify the franchise, There used to be as many rights to vote in England as there were titles to property. But all this network of complication was swept away by the Reform Bill. Whatever complaints may continue, to be urged against the restriction of the suffrage, no one doubts what is the law of qualification. The questions that engage the Registration Courts are almost solely questions of fact, not ! questions of legal interpretation. In the neighboring colonies the samo simplifying process has been carried out. Every man understands the extent and tlio limits of his right, and nothing is easier to him than to enforce it. In aiming at this end the colonial legislatures have carried out the essential spirit of the popular system of government. A melancholy contrast is exhibited by the cumbrous, uncertain, and indeed unintelligible, electoral law of this colony ; and ' it is because we are convinced thai one of the very first subjects that should bo pressed upon the attention of the General Assembly is the reform of the present system of registration, that we recur, with per- 1 haps irksome iteration, to tho now existing anomalies. Tho only purpose' to bo served by tho registration of electors is tho prevention of fraud. Tho nature of tho qualification to vote being settled by law, tho exclusion of all wv qualified persons from the polling booth, and the identity of thoso presenting themselves to vote with those who hold the right, become necessary guarantees of the purity of election. But wo had better do away with the system of Re' gistration altogether, and establish throughout the whole colony a system of voting analogous to that existing in connection with the Miners' High Is on the goldfields, than perpetuate a machinery by which the stops of the constitutionally qualified elector are perpetually impeded on his toilsomo way to the poll. Wo have before us several of the published lists of claims to be inserted on the register made on tho 31st March last; they abound with some amusing and many /nost suggestive illustrations of tho popular -ignorance that prevails on - the subject, both of the franchise itself and the method of registration. Tho Registration Officers indeed appear to be quito as much at sea as the rest of the people— to judge from the variety of form in which their tabulated returns arc made up. In some of these the namo of the attestor is given simply, whilst in others the nature of his qualification as freeholder or householder is set forth. As tho law requires absolutely that this latter particular should bo stated on tho claimant's paper, and as its absence would consequently bo a valid ground of objection to tho claimant's right ; the object of Iho publication of tho list of claims, for tho information of intending objectors, seems to bo frustrated by this omission. There arc other discrepancies in the returns, to which we need not particularly advert ; but they undoubtedly indicate a considerable amount of fogginess on the part of the officers employed to carry out the Act. Let us, however, give a cursory examination to the lists themselves, taking that for AVcstlnnd to begin with. It is perhaps not surprising that a good many names ( should have been sent in of persons claiming to vote in virtue of miners' rights or business licenses : remembering the terms in which Mr iteveH's notice was couched, to " all persons claiming, &c." Yet it is a fact that no person holding such a right has any title to be placed on the Roll, in respect of it. In some other instances, a far greater, ignorance is displayed as to Iho nature of the legal qualificationone person actually claiming to be registered on the ground of his being an Undertaker —a special qualification not yet recognised, wo believe, under any form of Constitution. It is, however, under the head of " description of property and whero situate" that we fear tho largest number of blunders has been made. In this column a preciso compliance with every technical requirement is, as wo havo pointed out, indispensable. It has been laid down by tho best authorities that a specific reference to the number on the official survey map of the section on which the property is situated, is required. But we find claimants in behalf of property " on unsurveyed ground." By a singular coincidence, tho attestor in ono of these cases is tho same gentleman who states his qualification in his own claim to be that of " undertaker." In one instance a claimant, who duly sots forth his qualification in tho proper column as leaseholder, gives, as tho description of his property, "merchant." Another

claimant describes his " property and i who- o situaio" us "Beach, two miles north of Hokitikn." These aro precisely tho mistakes which persons of not more than ordinary intelligence arc almost certain to fall into, in endeavoring to comply with tho requirements of a law so essentially incomprehensible. And what aro tho natural fruits of such a system ? First, the disfranchisoiucnt of a largo number of persons upon whom it was the obvious intention of the legislature to bestow tlio suffrage ; and secondly, tho erection of a class of electioneering agents, whoso special mission it is to manipulate tho roll. This class has thriven well elsewhere, and AYe m?vy depend upon it it will come into speedy oxisloneo hero, if it bo left as difficult a matter to a man of plain understanding to establish his right to vote, as it is to a philosopher to square the circle or discover perpetual motion.