The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-03-15
REGISTRATION.
One Central once Wanted IN place of
District Omces.
The following memorial went to the
Councils to-day:

| blHiIitt bthCes.
The following memorial went to the
Councils to-day:
MEMORIAL.
To His Excelancy ;. h. DQrE and the
Members OF the Executive and Adj
visory Councils of the Provisional
Government.
/ The undersigned committee was APP
pointed by the Temporary Committee OF
the American Union Party to memorial
ize your Honorable bodies in favor OF
the accompanying resolution and in pur-
suancc OF that duty beg to represent:
That the duties OF the election boards
in this matter are, in reality, judicial.
To receive applications for registration
to hear the evidence as to their possess
sion of the required qualifications, and
to decide each case on its merits is their
function. Experience has shown that
under the present system it is imprac-
ticabe to obtain the intelligence,
efficiency and especially the uniformity
OF administration that the importance
OF the business demands. Thirty men
(three Tor each OF the ten voting
prccincts) taken from their ordinary
daily avocations, meeting together few
times for few hours, once in q year or
two, most OF them with no special fitness
or natural aptitude for such work, and
many with but scant experience i'll it, do
not, and in the nature OF things never
can produce satisfactory results. This
is not mere theory, but rather Il we'll
established fact. There can be no doubt
that the registers of voters, particularly
for mobiles, contain the names of scores
and probably hundreds OF persons who
do not possess the statutory qualitica-
tons, while an actual comparison OF the
registers for the different precincts Shows
an amount Of duplicate and triplicate
registration quite sufficient, ii taken
advantage Of, to vitiate the result OF any
election in which the popular vote was
not Overwhelmingly on one side. The
ignorance OF the law exhibited by
many inspectors OF election, and the
extent to which in some instances they
allow themselves to be influenced
and controlled in their action by the
confident manner and professedly super
ior knowledge OF impudent and inter-
ested outsiders constitutes Il real peril to
the purity OF elections. 1t should also
he remembered that the law against
| illegal registration and voting, although
quite severe, is, SO far at least as Hawa-
iians are concerned, a dead letter. A
conviction for such an offense before Il
native jury is practicallyan impossible
| ity. So well is this fact understood that
! offenders OF this kind not only go un-
punished but unprecedented. BY en-
trusting the entire business Of registra-
ton for this district to one central office,
in charge OF competent men, who shall
give the work all the time and care re-
quired and be properly paid for it, these
evils can be mostly remedied, and we
believe that they can be remedied in no
other way. We speak of Honolulu be-
cause we have personal knowledge OF
this field; but presume the same facts
exist and the same arguments will APP
ply in some measure at least to the
country districts.
HoNoLuLu, H. l., A. d. 1894.
| RESOLUTION.
Resolved, That the registration OF
voters in the five districts OF Honolulu
be made at one central place or office to
be designated by the Minister OF the
Interior and the act to provide for a
constitutional convention be amended
accordingly leaving the inspectors at
each polling place all duties proposed
but such as are inconsistent with the