THE CITY LICENSING ELECTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 4315, 17 March 1884, Page 2

THE CITY LICENSING ELECTIONS.

Hearing of Petitions.

His Honor Judox Smith sat this morning^ at tlie R.M. Court for tho purpose of hearAiil ing petitions against the validity of tho % recent elections of Licensing Committees I for City East, City South, City North, > l'onsonby, and Karangahape respeoti\c!y Messrs E. and S. Hesketh have been retained for the petitioners, and Mr S. llosketh this morning appeared in Court, while Mr Tlieo. Cooper appeared for the Acting- gH Committees. Mr Thomas Cotter has been . S engaged to watch the inquiry on.behalf ol:f? the Returning Officer (Mr Ridings). At the opening of the Court, Mr S±;is Hcskoth announced that he did not intend to proceed with the inquiry that day atany.; v length, but merely to adduce some evidence ■',:>' and then adjourn. There were good ground*.-!;' for this course. The hearing woula occupy;;;" 1 more than one day, and as His Worship's* i engagements would not permit him even! ":■ the whole of that day, it would be better to take on that occasion merely tho formal part of the 6vi- "; dence. He therefore proposed (.imply to || call Mr Stonoy (Clerk of the Court) for tho J| purpose of deposing to the filing of the peti- M tions, and then ask for an adjournment. Mr Coopor had consented to this arrangement. Tho petitions were laid under the . 48th section of tho Regulation of Locales Elections Act, which prescribed that the ;1§ inquiry thereinto should commence 14daysi"*1 after the documonts had been filed. Aa for'1?-.'! tho grounds of objection, they were those H sot out in Section 50, Sub-Sectiona 1 to 6, ~'ii and ho anticipated no difficulty in the way of producing evidence to substantiate'-k: them. .*.' -,:>i

His Worship asked if it was necessary to ''$ take tho petitions separately, or if they , could bo taken all together. Mr Hesketh was afraid they would have to be taken separately, as the facto to be adduced were in some respects Bepnrato in . ■ each case. Mr J. B. Stoney (Clerk of the Court) having been sworn, then deposed that tho five petitions were filod with him at the hour of 3.50 p.m. on the 4th irist. The petitioners in each case were as follow :— City East: John Gray, A. 0. Carter, fl. A. H. Hitchens, Joseph Craig, H. E. Wook lams, Henry Renner, and M White. City ' South: John F. Saundera, Chas. Ooleman, - H. Matteon, Alfred Barchard, W. B. ,1 Montgomery, Joseph Craig, Thomas ; Monnock, and Thomas Holland. Cify'|s North i William Brnnston, J. WaroocnH W. G. Smith, A. G. Carter, John Grey, ;*§: Joseph Craig, and E. D. HakteaaVifJ! Karangahape : W. F. 8011, John J. Odium, : >|| H. T. Hill, Michael Looney, John Higgins, 1 Honry N. Napper, and John Walker. '. Ponsonby: W, B. Montgomery, C. F, /,' Mann, George Clarke, Thos. Keightley, John Kano, and H. E. Woollams. \,-'H Mr S. Hesketh then asked for an adjournment until Tuesday week, the 25th tout,, when ho hoped to bo able to go right ' through with the inquiry. Mr Thoo. Cooper suggested to hia learned friend that it would be fairer to the , Acting-Committees of the various districts who wore petitioned against that he should '/ ; state what charges the petitioners reallyi*^ intended to proceed upon. They had not - i only inserted in their petitions the whole of wj the charges enumerated in the 50th section of the Act, but others also, to form a kincT'jf of make-weight in order to catch the Com* '^ uutteos, if possible, on different grounds. /;•" His Worship: The charges certainly ffl seem to bo very sweeping. Mr Cooper went on to say that it wM^S§| very difficult for those petitioned against I to know really what charges they had t^Ji! meet. For instance, the first objection wWqi|| that notice of the time and place of election '.Jjji had not been properly given, and of course "X they could easily meet that. The second objection was as to the opening of the poll ' I either before the prescribed hour, or keeping it open too long. The third charge, m I aooordance with the sub-section, was tb»t intimidation or violence was nscd. Now, < ho did not think the petitioners wore serious |jj in alleging this, and if so, ho thought tho Acting-Committees should be so informed. ■ :|-: The publication of the charge was certainly tho first intimation conveyed to the publieof any such thing. If, however, it was alleged seriously, ho hoped that Mr Hesketh would y let him ktow. The fourth objection was that names of certain candidates vert :,

omitted from the polling papers, and that ■ the names of other persons who were not candidates wore inserted thereon. He

would like to know, also, if this ground of objection was serious. The fifth charge was that voting papers hod been irregularly put into the ballot-box, and other voting papovs irregularly taken out of it. It was, however, more parties lariy with respect to the third ana fourth objections that ho desired information. \l the petitioners did not intend to attempt to prove those charges, it was only fair that those petitioned against should bo acquainted with the fact, so that unnecessary witnesses might not be siibpcened to. attend. Ho did not ask for the infornui'

tion to be givon at once— any time before tho 25th would do.

Mr Heskefch said that as a matter of fact the ovidonco was not sufficiently complete to enable him to answer Mr Cooper's question, but if tho matter were allowed tfl

stand over, he would be glad to let his. ]oarnod friend know of any points from lyhioh they intended to withdraw. He hap P.O. hesitation, however, in saying that in 5.0m.6 matters irregularitios did occur which would, tend to render the election y'os Beyond this he could not go on that qcca-

sjon. ' ' " ' The inquiry was then formally adjourned Jill Tuesday, the 25th inst., at 10.$