TRAMWAY BOARD ELECTION.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20862, 23 May 1933, Page 9

TRAMWAY BOARD ELECTION.

* PURGING OF ROLLS. MR MCCOMBS ASSAILED ' BY MEMBERS. ALLEGATIONS RESENTED. "The statement made by Mr J. McCombs that the Citizens' Association members of the Tramway Board are preparing to strike off the roll a number of electors, is as unfair as it is untrue," said Mr W. Hayward, at the meeting of the Christchurch Tramway Board yesterday afternoon. "The Citizens' Association members have had no more to say or do in this matter than each and every other member of the board."

Mr Thompson, in his capacity as returning officer, was following regulations issued by the GovernorGeneral in Council in 1930, and exactly the same procedure was being adopted as at the last election three years ago, Mr Hayward said. It was obvious that thousands of changes of residence must take place in three years, and it would not be any hardship to those who had changed their addresses to advise the board of such change. "We do not wish to disfranchise a single elector who has the right to vote," said Mr Hayward. "Outbreaks of this sort do a tremendous amount of harm, for they mislead the public. There are charges laid at our door that I cannot follow; for I know that Mr McCombs does not make these errors through lack of knowledge—he has a grip of anything he tackles. This is the sort of thing that prevents leading citizens from coming out and giving very valuable service to the city. We are accused, of doing something we have never done, and never in- i tended to do." The chairman (Mr G. T. Booth): You have no motion to move? Mr Hayward: No. But I wished to make this protest. Mr D. Sykes said it was high time the roll was purged, for there were hundreds and thousands of names on it which had no right to be there at all.

Mrs McCombs in Reply. Mrs Elizabeth K. McCombs said she did not intend to make any defence of Mr McCombs, who was quite able to do that for himself; but she wished to say that if he had any abiding passion, it was democracy, for he believed that any person who had the right to vote should be given the chance. Mr A. A. McLachlan: Who doesn't?

I Mrs McCombs: I am not saying who doesn't. I only say he does. She went on to say that she had been the first victim of her husband's passion for accuracy. It was he who had caused legislation to be passed in Parliament, providing for an official count in municipal elections. At one Hospital Board election, the first figures showed that she had been elected, and she went home well satisfied; but when the official count was made, it was discovered that a whole booth in the Provincial Council Chambers had been missed out, and she was not elected. That was the result of her husband's passion for accuracy, which applied equally in this Tramway Board election dispute. He had been filled with indignation when he read what was proposed. Mr McLachlan: So he blames the Citizens' Association candidates. "I think, and this is my personal opinion, which I should have expressed had I been present at the committee meeting, that instructions are given to the general manager as returning officer," Mrs McCombs said. "I feel that it was highly improper to have had any matter connected with these instructions submitted to this board, for the election is supposed to be conducted by an impersonal returning officer, and not referred to this board. It was highly improper to submit it to the board at all, for its members will in all probability be candidates for re-election."

Desire for Accuracy. Mr E. H. Andrews said that the so-called passion for accuracy was entirely what moved the board in seeking to purge the roil, and it should be remembered that a great many changes could take place in three years. It was not the board's duty to enrol the electors—it was their own duty, and their namos should appear on the roll with their correct addresses. A great many of them had gone right out of the ,-ity and right out of the district, and d good many had died. "The trouble with Mr McCombs," said Mr Andrews, "is that he always attributes ulterior motives to the man who does not agree with him in politics. Why did he not come out like a man and merely say he did not think this was the best way of correcting the roll? He •**- tributes ulterior motives to a former board, I think as far back as 1920. I do not know what happened then—." Mrs McCombs: He knew what happened, because he amended the law. Mr Andrews: Oh, he is a wonderful man is Mr McCombs. Anything ; there is any advertisement in is done by Mi' McCombs or his good lady. At the election three years ago, Mr Andrews said, of 24,474 postcards sent out to electors, only 7380 were returned. Yet Mr McCombs declared that the board was trying to cut these people off the roll, though advertisements were Inserted in the newspapers and the board really gave every elector every opportunity.

Strong' Criticism. "I say it is despicable conduct when he jumps into the papers like this," continued Mr Andrews; "but we know the object of it all." Mr McLachlan: Because he is a candidate for the board. Mr- W. J. Walter said the Citizens' Association was concerned only with the city itself, and did not carry its campaign outsrde. At the last election he had fought his own battle, and so had Mr Sykes and Mr McLachlan. The general manager, Mr Frank Thompson, replying to the suggestion that it was improper to have referred election matters to the board, said the regulations under

which the board acted, dealing with the preparation of the roll, cast upon the board the duty of authenticating and correcting the rolL The .preliminary steps had to be taken by the secretary of the board, not by the returning officer. When he (the speaker) was acting as returning officer, he became an independent officer, and endeavoured to«act impartially; but as secretary; he was the servant of the board. Mrs McCombs said she would move that a sum equal to that staked upon ascertaining whether, people had removed should be spent in finding those people. On the suggestion of the chairman, Mr G. T. Booth, Mrs McCombs agreed to bring the motion forward at a later meeting.

FURTHER STATEMENT BY MR MCCOMBS. REMOVAL QF- NAMES FROM ROLL. "The explanations given to the newspapers by Mr E.-H. Andrews and Mr Frank Thompson, concerning the method of compiling the roll for the Tramway Board elections, are far from satisfactory," said Mr J. McCombs, M.P., yesterday in a further statement. "The least that should be done before a name is struck off the roll is to send a notice to the person concerned, informing him that it is proposed to strike his name off the roll unless he can show cause why it should be retained. "But why is the board so anxious to strike names off? Why should it not spend at least an equal amount of money in putting names on the roll? Does the present board fear the verdict of the people? "Under the law an elector is entitled to have his name on the roll if he resides in the district, and he can change his address every month if he likes. The title to vote does not depend on whether he lives in a -. certain house. "I think the utmost care should be taken before names are removed from the roll, and I am of opinion that if names are removed without reasonable enquiry being made as to whether the person resides in the district the removal of the. names would be illegal and would be sufficient to upset a poll in a close contest. Far too many people who think they are enrolled find their names off the roll on election day. "For years after all the other tramway districts were given the parliamentary franchise, the Christchurch Tramway Board successfully resisted the broadening of the franchise in Christchurch. Now that we have got the broad franchise the board is, in my opinion, using unfair methods to disfranchise some of the electors. "In 1930, when the board's rolls were being prepared, 24,474 postcards were sent out and 7380 were returned because the addressees bs,d changed their addresses. The names of those 7380 persons were accord-, iAgly left off the teams«ay. ijpJIF.