MAORI VOTING. To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir,—So much has been said and written with re- gard to the clause in the Electoral Bill providing: the voting qualification of the Maoris, that I would net encumber your columns with any observations of mine were it not that your contemporary, the N. Z. Times, in this morning's issue, has announced its in- tention of again referring to the question. The debate in the Upper House will, I believe, be re- sumed on Tuesday evening. I may therefore be per- mitted to say a word or two before the division takes place, to show the opinion of the Europeans in one of the largest districts in the colony that would be affected by the Maori vote. I allude to that part of the country north of Napier and south of Tauranga, which includes the county of Cook, as well as a cer- tain area outside of the County boundary. It will be remembered, should Captain Morris ever again contest the district he now represents (?), that he voted against the extension of the franchise to Maoris whose qualification was the ownership of land held under memorial of ownership. I merely mention this to show that Captain Morris voted against what the people of Poverty Bay represented locally by the County Council of Cook and the Borough Council of Gisborne) have expressly declared themselves in favor of. These two local bodies, after consideration, ar- rived at the conclusion that it was just and fair to the Maoris, who held in the aggregate over 2,000,000 acres in that district under memorial of ownership, that they should have the right to vote for the Euro- pean representative. It was deemed advantageous to the district that that right should be extended to all Natives who were not debarred by age or sex, and who held land under memorial of ownership. Did then those two local bodies point out to Captain Morris that it would be wrong to endorse by a clause in the Electoral Bill a right that had been already conferred on the aboriginals? No. The County Council of Cook and the Borough Council of Gisborne voted out of the rates paid by the people a consider- able sum, to pay a person to traverse the whole dis- trict, and place upon the Electoral Roll every eligible Native. To further facilitate the carrying out of this object over a thousand voting papers iti the Maori language were printed and left at every Native settle- ment. Of the many newspapers published in that district not a single one raised its voice to say that it was unjust that such a power should be given to the . Natives. No word was said of " disreputable Pakeha Maoris manipulating elections. On the contrary, when a few of the voting papers through some slight informality were objected to by the Returning Officer, Mr. Hopkins Clarke, the newspapers grumbled at frivolous objections having been made, and in leading articles almost implored the people to attend Revision Court and set matters right. Yet in the face of all this calm and deliberate action on the part. of the Europeans and the press, in a district where the Maori population is far in excess of the European population, the hon. gentleman who should represent that district in Parliament voted that effect should not be given to what his constituents had paid to have performed. In the Lower House the question is dis- posed of, so nothing more need be said of the quasi represervative of the East Coast. The settlers now naturally look to the Hon. Randall Johnson, who it is understood, takes an interest in the welfare of that district, in the hope of better things. The Chairman of the County of Cook, that honorable Councillor's brother, performed his part well in the interest of the district It now remains to be seen whether or not the Parliament of the country has drifted into such an anomalous state that the legislators in both Houses should vote against the declared wishes of the people they should represent. —I am &c. POVERTY BAY SETTLER October 7.

The New Zealander, commenting on the above, says : "We publish in another column, a letter signed a ' Poverty Bay Settler" with regard the Maori