SOUTHERN MAORI ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 48, 20 November 1925, Page 8

SOUTHERN MAORI ELECTION

' ALLEGED CASTING OF ILLEGAL VOTES Br TetsoßAPH— Presb Association. Christchurch, November 19. Allegations of the casting of illegal votes at the recent election are made by one of the candidates for the Southern Maori electorate, Mr. Tuiti Macdonald, of Levin, who probably will take the case to an electoral Court. There are five grounds on which Mr. Macdonald declares that various votes cast are illegal. They are as follow:—(1) Several persons voted though they were under age; (2) half-caste voters also were on the European roll, though it was illegal for half-castes to be on two rolls; (3) descendants of half-castes by Europeans are not supposed to vote at a M.-.ori election, but several did; (4) Natives from other, electorates voted at the Southern Maori election; (5) other Natives had voted though they had no legal right to do so, as they came within the criminal clauses of the Legislature Act.

Mr. Macdonald declares that he knows of 30 or 40 votes that will be affected and that would probably affect the result, as the majority of Mr. Uru was only 16. He mentioned that at the previous election the late Mr. W. Uru beat the late Mr. Parata by three votes on the official recount, but there were then numerous illegal votes, and Mr. Parata eventually won by four votes.