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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 66

Electoral and Administrative

Electoral and Administrative.

Any man of twenty-one years and upwards, who is a born or naturalized British subject, and who has held for six months a free- page 11 hold of the clear value of £25, or who has resided for one year in the colony, and in an electoral district during the six months immediately preceding the registration of his vote, is now, according to an Act passed in 1879, entitled to be registered as an elector and to vote for the election of a member of the House of Representatives; also, every male Maori of the same age whose name is enrolled upon a ratepayers' roll, or who has a freehold estate of the clear value of £25. And, by another Act passed on the same day, the duty is imposed upon the Registrar of each electoral district of placing on the electoral roll the names of all persons who are qualified to vote. Any person qualified to vote for the election of a member of the House of Representatives is also, generally speaking, qualified to be himself elected a member of that House. There are, however, certain special disqualifications for membership, such as grave crime, bankruptcy, and paid office (other than what is called political) in the colonial service. Four of the members of the House are Maoris, elected under a special law by Maoris alone.

The Colonial Legislature, which as a rule meets once a year, has power generally to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of New Zealand. The Acts passed by it are subject to disallowance by the Queen, and in a very few cases are required to be reserved for the signification of the pleasure of Her Majesty, but there have not been, in the course of the twenty-seven years since the Constitution was granted, more than half a dozen instances of disallowance or refusal of assent. The Legislature has also, with a few exceptions, ample power to modify the Constitution of the colony. Executive power is administered, as before stated, in accordance with the usage of Responsible Government as it exists in the United Kingdom.

Legislation concerning the sale and disposal of Crown lands, and the occupation of the goldfields, is exclusively vested in the Colonial Parliament.

There are in most towns in the colony municipal bodies, such as Mayors and Town Councils in England, invested with ample powers for sanitary and other municipal purposes; and there are in various country districts elective Road Boards charged with the construction and repair of roads and bridges, and with other local matters. There are also Central and Local Boards of Health appointed under a Public Health Act, which have authority to act vigorously, both in towns and in the country, for the prevention and suppression of dangerous and infectious diseases.

The above short summary of the system of Government in New Zealand suffices to show that the leading characteristics of the British page 12 Constitution—self-government and localized self-administration—are preserved and, in fact, extended under the New Zealand Constitution; that there is ample power to regulate its institutions, and to adapt them from time to time to the growth and progress of the colony, and to its varied requirements; and that it is the privilege of evey colonist to take a personal part to some extent, either as elector or elected, in the conduct of public affairs and in the promotion of the welfare of the community.