The Clutha Leader. BALOLUTHA : FRIDAY, SEPT. 20, 1878.

Clutha Leader, 20 September 1878, Page 3

The Clutha Leader. BALOLUTHA : FRIDAY, SEPT. 20, 1878.

We have received communications from various quarters with reference to our article in lasb issue upon the subject of the Borough elections here. From these it appears there exists a difference of opinion as to .the meaning of a section of the interpretation clause of the Regulation of Local Elections Act. The section reads as follows : — " 'District' means the district comprised wi f hin the jurisdiction of any such local body, and includes the riding of a County, the ward of a Borough, and any other subdivisions of a district, for electoral purposes." Applying the clause to the case in point, some read it to mean simply that the district comprised within the jurisdiction of a Borough Council includes the wards of the Borough. It certainly was not necessary to insert such a clause in an Act of Parliament to inform us of this. Everyone knew that the Borough Council had jurisdiction over the several wards of the Borough. If the clause was intended to mean that for electoral purposes the wards of a borough are to be held as included in the " district" over which the Borough Council exercises jurisdiction then the clause should have ended with the words " local body." The remainder of the clause .would in that case be quite superfluous and absurd. In the Otago Roads Ordinance, 1871, for example, the interpretation clause reads : " The word ' district ' shall mean any road district constituted under or by virtue of this Ordinance." It does not go on to say that the road dis--1 trict shall include the various subdivisions . of the district. Our rendering of the ; clause in the Local Elections Act is, that for electoral purposes the ward of a i borough is a tf district" in the meaning ' of the Act, and that the elections for wards must be conducted in the manner > the Act directs that the elections for dis- \ tricts shall be conducted. In this view the portion of the clause after the words i "local body" has a definite and very important meaning ; otherwise it has no 5 meaning whatever. We may mention fc that our rendering of the clause is that p adopted by Messrs Smith and Anderson, I barristers, Mr Macassey, and others of the ' ablest legal gentlemen in Dunedin. In • the recent election . for Councillors for the city of J^unedin, the word "wal'd"

was held as constituting a district. The City Council appointed a Returning Officer for each ward. Each of them gave public notice of the nominations, and which were held within the various wards. None of these officers recorded their individual votes, and the whole elections were carried out according to our rendering of the Act. In Balclutha a very different and, as we think, an irregular course was pursued, and we have no doubt whatever the elections are void, not only upon the grounds we stated last week, but numerous others, which no doubt will crop up at the official inquiry which we are informed will be asked for. There is just one other point to which we may here refer, namely, the question as to whether the Borough is a divided or undivided borough. According to the opinion of the legal gentlemen above referred to, all municipalities, when they come under the operation of the new Act, become undivided boroughs. The citizens of Dunedin decided to have the borough divided into wards ; they adopted the necessary steps for this purpose, and His Excellency the Governor gave effect to the decision by declaring the several wards. One would naturally think His Excellency would not proclaim wards were he advised by the Law officers of the Crown that these wards were previously in existence. The inhabitants of Balclutha were also of opinion the Borough of Balclutha was, by the operation of the Act, an undivided borough. A public meeting was held to consider whether it should continue undivided, or be divided into wards. The unanimous decision was that it should continue undivided, and one Councillor was afterwards elected as for the whole borough. The Mayor, however, contrary to the decision of the ratepayers, and without even consisting the Council upon the subject, asked His Excellency to extend the time for making up the rates for the several wards. The time was extended, and elections were held for Councillors for wards. This was done after the notice had been given by the returning officer of the election of Councillors for the borough as an undivided borough. No notice of a nomination of Councillors for the several wards was ever given by that or any other officer. While the nomination of Councillors ,took place all at one place, the poll was taken in the several wards. This is all the result of an interference with the decision of the burgesses to have the Borough an undivided borough, and in view of. the large works in contemplation by the new Council, and the necessity of borrowing money for these works, it surely becomes prudent that all irregularities should be remedied.