Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 8 June 1928, page 4


LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

NORTHERN PROVINCE. Mr. Kilpatrick Elected.

ECHUCA, Thursday -The allocation of the prefercnce votes of Mr. R. C. Gordon (C.P. ) in the election for the Northern Province of the Legislative Council began today. Of a total of 780 votes 776 have been counted and distributed as follow -

ABBOTT, R. H. S. (C.P. ) . . 435 KILPATRICK, R. (C.P.) . . 341 The totals now are:—

KILPATRICK . . 3,430 ABBOTT . . 2,304

As only four votes remain to be distri buted Mr. Kilpatrick has won the seat. The poll will be declared at 3 o'clock to-morrow

afternoon.

SOUTH-EASTERN PROVINCE

Mr Tyner Returned.

The final count for the South-Eastern Province was as follows:—

TYNER, W. (Nat.) . . 5,848 WILKINSON, H. L. (Nat.) . . 2,797

Majority for Tyner . . 3,051

The poll will be declared at the Brighton

Town Hall at noon to-day.

Compulsory Voting Urged.

GELLONG, Thursday.—The Corio capital branch of the Nationalist Federation has decided to submit a motion at the annual conference of the federation advocating compulsory voting at Legislative Council elections.

Mr. Lansell Wins Northern Province

BENDIGO, Thursday. — The counting of the second preferences in the Bendigo Pro vince election was delayed owing to a fresh check on the booth figures having to be made. The final figures were not avail able till late tonight. Mr. Lansell won the seat. After the first preference votes had been counted the positions were:— G. V. Lansell (Nationalist), 3,100; A. E.

Wallis (Independent Liberal), 2,606; J. H. Curnow (Independent Liberal), 946; The second preferences of Mr. Curnow were cast as follow: —Willis, 525; Lansell 421. This made the totals: — Lansell, 3,581; Wallis, 3,131. Majority for Lansell, 450. The declaration of the poll will be made on Monday at noon.

DEFECTIVE ROLLS.

Need for New System.

'There is no doubt that the System of enrolment requires revision," said the Chief Secretary (Mr Prendergast) yesterday, re-ferring to the criticism of the state of the rolls used at the Legislative Council elec-ton on Saturday.

Mr. Prendergast added that the criticism of the state of the rolls for the Melbourne South Province was no doubt justified but he considered that it should be directed at the obsolete system of enrolment rather than at the officers responsible for the com pilation of the rolls. The same reflection on the rolls would apply to the whole of the State, though the fault was accentuated in the Melbourne South Province because of its shifting population. The rolls used at the recent election were compiled from information obtained last June for the municipal elections held in August, and it was not surprising to learn that in the last 12 months hundreds of persons within the province had died or had removed to other parts. In some industrial suburbs it was no exaggeration to say that there were up to 40 per cent. of changes in tenancy every 12 months. The Melbourne South Province was partly an industrial area. The rolls contained the names of 30,814 electors, of whom probably 3,000 or 4,000 had removed in the last 12 months. The electoral regis-trars for the various divisions of this provnice were an experienced and reliable set of officers and apart from isolated in-stances he was confident that the rolls had been compiled in accordance with the information supplied to them by the muni-cipal clerks.

Mr. Prendergast said in conclusion that there was no power to revise or alter in any way the copies of the municipal rolls as supplied to registrars and apart from acci-dental omissions there was no provision for a general revision of the Legislative Council rolls after their compilation. There was no doubt that the system of enrolment required revision and he was sure that a suitable method could be found whereby a more modern and correct roll could be ob-tained for Legislative Council elections. To ascertain such a method exhaustive in quiries would require to be made, and it would be necessary to consult the munici-palities to obtain their co-operation.