THE AWARUA SEAT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 248, 26 October 1897, Page 2

THE AWARUA SEAT.

COURT OF APPEAL DECISION.

IN FAVOUR Of MR WARD

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

WELLINGTQN, Monday.

The ease under the the Awarua Scat Enquiry Act, 1397. before the Full Court of Appeal, concluded this afternoon. After citing a number of cases bearing upon the principles upon which such statutes ought to be interpreted, Mr Cooper summed"up hi* argument as follows : First, he submitted there was no necessity to modify the language of section L3O to uphold his co.i-

tention ; secondly, if such was necessary the Court had power and a plain duty to do po to carry out the intention of the Legislature, because any other construction "would lead to absurdity, inconsistency, andrepugnaney: thirdly, the Court could not hold that the seat was vacant without reading something into the disqualification clause which could not be found there: fourthly, that, if necessary, the Court could rein! "is bankrupt" as "shall become bankrupt.'' to avoid absurdity and repugnance. In conclusion he urged" that he had shown ample ground both in reason and on authority why the Court should answer the question put by the House in favour of tiie person claiming the seat. Mr Skerrett pointed one chat at no time had bankruptcy been, at common law a disqualification for sitting is; the House of Commons. The clL;iuialiiication, ir it

existed, was therefore purely statutory. Throughout all the statutes dealing with the subject there would be found two wellknown classes of dift^ualilication — first those which prevented a person from being eligible as a candidate, and secondly those which arose after election, and had the effect that he could not hold bis seat—at all events not except after re-electicn. These two classes of cases had been studiously kept apart in all legislation, and continued to be dealt with separately in sections 8 and 130 of the Electoral Act, 1593. These sections, Mr Skerretk contended, were mutually exclusive, and '■ bankruptcy " occurring in section IMG, amongst other cases clearly arising only after election, must be held to mean

" bankruptcy ': after election, unless there was something plainly showing a contrary intention. Apart from everything else, it was a sufficient answer to the suggestion of any other interpretation that the Act contained plain words, under wlucsh an undischarged bankrupt was eligible, and that there were no plain words to the effect that he should nut hold a seat when elected.

Mr Gully, as counsel nominated by the Speaker of the House, submitted that the argument for Mr Ward amounted to this : That if a person became bankrupt the day befoie election he could hold the seat, but if a day after then he immediately entered upon the period of disability. This was an absurdity which should be avoided if possible. It -was very material to consider the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act in connection with the case, ft was almost impossible for a person to carry on the duties of a member of the House,- and at the same time those which were cast upon him by the Bankruptcy Act as an undischarged bankrupt. He cited a number of sections of that Act as showing that a bankrupt, whilst undischarged, must practically be at the beck and call of the Official Assignee. It was, therefore, to be expected that the Legislature would treat the status of bankruptcy at whatever time it had commenced as inconsistent with tile position of a member of the House. The words of subsection 4of section 130 were quite plain. The words, "if heis a bankrupt,'' referring to a continuing state. It was said that the openingwords of the section, " The seat of a member shall become vacant,'"1 showed it was the becoming bankrupt of an existing member that was aimed at ; but these words would also cover the case of a person elected to he a member, and the effect would be that immediately upon his election the seat would become vacant. There was no more reason why the question of the right to sit could be left to a constituency in the case of bankruptcy than in the case of any other disqualification. The change or language from ' shall become a bankrupt Jin the Constitution Act to " Is a bankrupt " in the Acts of 1881 and 1893, must be given effect to. The old legislation on the subject was no guide. It was better to look to the present policy of the legislature as evinced by modern' Acts. He eitednumerous existing statutes relating to local bodies as showing the tendency to treat bankruptcy as in every case a disqualification. "VV ith reference to the special argument founded on section 130, he contended that the fact that the section provided machinery for notifying the Speaker only in the case of an existing member being adjudicated a bankrupt need not affect the operation of section 146. The Speaker could inform himself in some other way. The words of section 130 were plain and the Court should give effect to them. Mr Cooper having replied the Chief Justice, after conference with the other members of the Bench, intimated that the Court was unanimously of opinion that the seat of the member for Awarua electoral district in the present Parliament had not become vacant by reason of the facts stated, and that a certificate to that effect under the hands of two of the Judges would be forwarded to the Speaker of the House as soon as possible, as required by the Act. His • Honor further intimated that the reasons for the conclusion of the Court would he given in writing later on. The Court fixed the costs of those acting for Mr Ward at 70 guineas, and of those acting for the Speaker at 40 guineas. These costs the Act provides shall be paid out of moneys to be appropriated by Parliament.