WESTLAND SEAT.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18636, 10 March 1926, Page 9

WESTLAND SEAT.

ELECTION PETITION. ; ON VOTES AND VOTERS. (special to "™ wssss.") ; S GREYMOUTH, March 9. i" x n» hearing of the petition of Mr J. • 'fl'Bnen pW"»B that he *» declared „ " jjg/for Westland. or, alternatively, ! fa election be declared void, was ! this morning at the sitting of ; i £ Electoral Court, comprising Mr 1 JartlW Stringer and Mr Justice Ostler. '•Lie was a falling off in the attend- , jZ as compared with yesterday, butV "wards evening the Courtroom was ' cell filled Wlth 6 P €ctators - Mr W. J> J° vce ca-Ned further evince on behalf of the petitioner. Coun- , .jitimated that two of the witnesses, iwkl and Elizabeth Fraser, could not LLji (Jreymouth in time, and he did * intend to call the evidence of three SSX»™t Godfrey Henry, 1 ff£el Ru ? selh , was given by James IfltajflP. farmer, Inangahua Valley, ■towsa' deputy returning officer at «e twding booth, Buller, that Harold ulitrell Parker went there to vote. 'lUclaimed to be on the Westland roll, iZ. 'ttfefcd for a voting paper. Witness V M 9"ly * en voters' forms, and u i»ij i jO p.m , "ben Parker arrived, they » *tw* exhausted. He explained the ~|«joMon to Parker and told him he was to give him a vote. „He advised ■wk*t to try a booth four miles fur!jk£ en, but so far as witness knew ifirfctr did not do so. t Harold Maxwell Parker, bushman, Jiaidhii WDie was on the Westland roll. '*He #ent to the Landing booth about f 580 P'lß"> but O Regan told him there '" VlM u absentee forms left. Witness djd Uflt tote anywhere else. 1 ftjir Hannan: O'ltegan advised Mlji to try another booth, but he did jtofifo W. He had then been working jt ihe Landing about a 'fortnight, and !»rior to that had been in the Westand district, near Hokitika, and at' Ahatrta. ' H. G. F. Coles, returning officer for Wwthtnd, said that Parker did not rote at the election. . \ Mr Joyce said that in one case delay forwarding ballot papers by a det jpniy refcurniiur. officer might have laid f open to be tampered with. ' i, He Court was of opinion that some/ftifig more definite was necessary. iPfflfA O'Neill, Greyrnouth, said he \> fti Scrutineer for O'Brien at the Kahiv katta booth. No rotes were declared , kfortoal. ; t Despondent's Case Opens. \ la opening the oase for the respondent, Mr Hannan admitted that Mrs £/Ur«n and Jeremiah McCarthy were '-loot qualified to vote in the Westland "4tHtiOTite. With regard to two papers ! 'Jb&Jhtained that there was nothing .to 'ftfove identity. \ ■ $? Dealing with the name transferred f ssm the petitioner's list, Mr Hannan /itwled Maurice James Thompson, secreI'Pry of the Grey Hospital Board, who £|uid that Ellen' Gamble left the service da April 30th. Further iwidence was to the effect that Miss had resided at Stillwater, I Buller, from the end of April untjil September, when she left for Wellington. I Objection to the witnesses, Alfred Abraham Phillips, and Mrs Phillips, fdrnj&rly Miss Constance Huxford, was ,*ithdjta,wn by Mr Joyce after hearing ' fevw&ce, » the absentee votes of Isabel MSs%or Brown, Mr Coles, ''Returning Officer, said her vote was disqualified because, it was impossible to j compart the signature,/the other papers being miMing. Mary' Ann Ryan's ap- , plication contained, the surname only, «nd a fal| comjjs#gon;was therefore not v possible. 'A banker;would not pav out on a cfaegne signed in that way. Sarah , Caroline Wallace's vote was disquali- . because she was on the roll in her - .iniriden name, and'there was delay by „ filer in notifying her. niarried name. The , particulars ware received from Ker too * The onus was on the elector, added that every absent vote * r {allowed was, in his opinion, and accordv\Jnfc to valid. A large rinmyw.of objections to voters by the resfv,]prid«nV#ere abandoned. fcS *' "Hew&s.tflred." p..ln,connexion with the Kahikatea *4MtrUS, further was given by llHiye Butler* poll.'.iolerk, and. Eleana f,|.n<ftfsdn, postmistress at Kahikatea. £t*l* farmer stated that there were, no votes cast at the booth. The i>iJ*Her\said she waited'until 9.30 p.mi »:«?on polling day for the vdting papers to Iw handed to her for transmission to the Btinrnjng Office at Hokitika, but she did not reoeive them. When she asked Sanation, the deputy-Return-sr there, said that it would lour and a half to do the le was tired, and would do he morning. The Returning Hokitika had counted one of papers as informal. Harcourt said her Christian' Bpelt with one "1," and her who has the same name, spelt two "ll'b.V: JBy mistake, the vas put through witness's h the transfer memo. When kfid foT a ballot paper at Koihe was informed that her scored off the roll, and she vote, s. Returning Officer, recalled, iceived instructions from the at Wellington, to remove the Jillins Harcourt. married., at i, from the roll. The omission a a clerical error at Wellingsess did not have the facts of efore him when he disallowed Legal Argument, he hearing of evidence had the Court was occupied for hours hearing legal argument authorities wore extensively both sides, dealing with the sns of voters and the manner the various votes were retfhen counsel for respondent thorities bearing on the quesoniy thDse that were qualified eive a vote, he was reminded irt that his contention equally 'oth parties, as the election dy been determined on the me person, and might again ined on the votes of one or for respondent/ * n referring ions raised by petitioner in •with certain voting papers, that in cases where voters I irregularities they should their mistakes by being disL Quoting the Hawke's Bay ase, counsel said that where and surnames were erased the enained that the voters' inTere not clear, and the votes Wed informal. • tlce Ostler asked what hapen a voter had partly struck .replied that he saw no rea- » voter should strike out part ■nie of a candidate for whom sd.to vote. W* Stringer said that there \ Be a Wonderful amount of Mgenuity on 'the , part of

electors to avoid following the instructions on the voting papers, Counsel for petitioner quoted authorities bearing on the rights of voters to insert a cross alongside the name of the candidate preferred. He contended that it was ridiculous to a-«» 8 Jg', any person in an idle moment shouW , scratch out two names on' £j bal J* paper in. the manner indicated oy ,an to whom it seemed an effort to rfad the small print on the bottom of, a A ft°he P co P nciuflion of legal argument the voSU paP era oi Xowr ? * nd < Sarcourt were put in for the mformath%Cojourning, Mr Justice Striker said that the Court would to-morrowmorn. St regarding the principles upon which they intended t. act Further Sen" might be necessary. The Court adj«n»e4 at 5 o'clock, and will resume at 10 w. to-morrow.