THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3192, 10 May 1871, Page 2

THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE INDEPENDENT.

Sir, — I was amused to see the few names names which were objected to on the roll for the Wellington country districts, knowing that the list of them should have been as long as that of the town roll. The casual visitor to a country burial-ground will often look in vain for the names of the departed. " But, though no stone may tell their name, their worth, their glory," he may find them duly registered in the late3t edition of the electoral roll. Five years ago. I lefc a certain district, parting with my qualiGoation. I am not only still on the roll, but expect to remain on for life, and for a dozen years or so after lam dead. No one objected to my being on, and I make no objection, lest I should be, as you suggest, " saddled with costs for my frivolity." Close to me is the name of an acquaintance of mine, who,, when he registered, possessed no qualification, excepting impudence. He has left the Pro* vines long ago, but his name still lingers among us on the roll. The country districts roll is the finest work of fiction ever printed at the public expense. Of course it might easily be rendered accurate. If the Revising Officer had power to send a list of names to each countrj postmaster for correction, the local knowledge of the postmasters would scratch out more names in one day than the Revising Officer would in seventy years. I trust the Government is not so verdant as to believe that, say, more than one out of every three names on the roll is aacurate and reliable. — I am, &c, Magister. Pahautanui, Bth May, 1871.