PETITION AGAINST ELECTION RESULT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 92, 12 January 1939, Page 8

PETITION AGAINST ELECTION RESULT

Notice Of Withdrawal

Given

By Telegraph—Press Association.

WHANGAREI, January 11

Notice of the withdrawal of the petition against the election of Mr. C. W. Boswell for the Bay of Islands electorate was filed with the Registrar of the Supreme Court in Whangarei today by the petitioners, Clive Rutherford Cameron and Sydney Walter Smith.

The grounds for withdrawal include the difficulty of examination of the genealogies of 240 Maoris for four generatiops back. The cases of 40 absentee Europeans would also have to be examined and evidence obtained from all over New Zealand. Also 200 witnesses would be required. “The time required by Jhis detailed examination and proof would extend over several weeks and the expense and time involved are too great to be undertaken by the petitioners, specially in view of the fact that a successful issue to the petition could not materially affect the relative strength of the parties in the House and that in the next election the rolls can be purged as a result of the information already in hand,” the notice states.

The registrar communicated the contents to the Chief Justice, who will appoint a day and date for the hearing of the application for withdrawal.

It was explained authoritatively in Wellington yesterday that though notice of withdrawal has been given a formal sitting of the Election Court fixed for the hearing of the petition on January 17 will take place. The Electoral Act and the rules of the Court made under the Act provide for this formality, the object of which is to give an opportunity to others if they wish to take up a petition if the original petitioners withdraw from it.