[PRESS ASSOCIATION.] RIGHT OF INEBRIATES TO VOTE

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 18, 21 July 1909, Page 3

[PRESS ASSOCIATION.] RIGHT OF INEBRIATES TO VOTE

AUCKLAND, 20th July. An important judgment was given in the Otahuhu Police Court by Mr. H. W. Northcroft, S.M., in connection with the case recently heard in which the right of inmates of the Salvation Army's Inebriates' Home on Pakatoa Island to vote at the general election was challenged. Mr. Moody appeared in support of the application, m which it was sought to have the names of those confined on the island removed from the electoral rolls on the ground that they are ineligible, having been convicted of an offence for which they might be imprisoned for a period of twelve months. Mr. R. M'Veagh appeared to object to the application, and his contention was that those whose names were on the roll were uever guilty of an offence for which they could have been imprisoned for twelve months, the maximum penalty for drunkenness being the period of three months. , Mr., Northcroft, after a lengthy summing up of the facts of the case, said the question to bo determined was ; Were the persons whose names were entered on the roll, as before mentioned, qualified to be registered as electors for the district of Manukau? In his opinion they were not so qualified, and their names ought not to have been entered on the roll. This he thought clear — that those of the claimants who claimed enrolment under section 43 did not possess part, at any rate, of the qualification required by that section. They did not reside in the district within the meaning of the Act, but were brought to the institution in custody from without the district against their will and by compulsion of the law, that is, undei a warrant or ovder di commitment issued .under section 35 of the Police Offences Act, 1908. They were practically prisoners detained or imprisoned as convicted offenders by process of law. For the reasons given lie was of opinion that the names of the persons objected to should not have been entered on the roll, and he accordingly ordered their removal therefrom.