HALF-HOUR BALLOT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 9, 10 July 1931, Page 9

HALF-HOUR BALLOT

ASSESSOR APPOINTED

MR. G. HALLIDAY ELECTED

The election of an assessor to represent ratepayers upon the Assessment Court, in' tho consideration of objection to city valuations, was held this morning air the Town Hall, and resulted in the selection of Mr. G. Halliday, for, many years a Government valuer and land purchase officer. The procedure to be followed at these elections is laid down in the regulations under the Valuation Act,; and is quite different from that of an ordinary election, in that only those ratepayers attending the formal meeting, at ah advertised hour (9.30 • a.m. to-day) are allowed to vote. Thus the ballot is usually quite small. This morning there were under 200 people present. The Town Clerk, Mr. E. P. Norman, presided, and prior to the voting read a letter from Mr. T. Dwan, one of the nominees, advising the meeting of his desire to withdraw his nomination, but at that last minute it was, of course,' not possible'to remove Mr.'Dwari's name from the ballot papers. The remaining candidates, Mr. G. Halliday, and Mr. E. ' Bold, briefly addressed the meeting, assuring those present of their desire to look to the interest of the ratepayer and to endeavour to counter • excessive valuations. The ballot was then taken, and the result was announced by the Town Clerk at about 10 a.m., as follows: Mr. G. Halliday, 100, votes; Mr. B. Bold, 65 votes. Though Mr. Dwan had notified his ;desire to withdraw, three votes ■ were cast in his favour. SOME INTERESTING POINTS. There are several interesting points in connection with these elections under , tho Valuations Act, first of. 'all, of, course, the fact that as the Act provides that the voting must take place at a meeting of ratepayers the whole election is over within at most an hour or, so of the commencement of the meeting,' a ratepayer who is unable to attend at the set hour is consequently disfranchised—though that is possibly his fault i for not knowing the Valuations Act and j its regulations better. On the face of it, the regulations arc clear enough, that the ratepayer desiring to vote must be present at the meeting, but when Valu- j ation and Polls Acts are read'together there is' room for any amount of difference of opinion among lawyers, let alone among laymen, ratepayers. Company votes arc another point in question. The Act lays it down, as 'a,, layman reads it, that the ratepayer shall have one vote in his own right (thus excluding wives, or husbands, of property owners); but shall a ratepayer who has exercised his own :right be excluded from voting ns the representa-1 tive of a company? In other municipal elections such a ratepayer. has a company as well as his own vote, provided that the required authority is produced from the company represented. If'such a ratepayer, the head, cay, of a registered company of standing, can vote in the election of an assessor only in his own right, can the company's vote be recorded provided a second representative of the company (who does not vote as a ratepayer in his own right) exercise the company's vote? That the hour, 9.30 a.m., is iuconveui,e'nt to many ratepayers is certain pos- j jßibly, an evening 'meeting would have a larger number better; but no set hour, of course, can be so suitable' as the extended, hours provided for in the Polls Act, i c., 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Has the Polls Act any power ,of overriding tho Valuations Act in regard to these assessors' elections? I Such elections are not very frequent, and, though the business of the Assessment Court is of prime importance to those ratepayers who object to the valu-1 utions placed on their properties, the several'points in. doubt, and there are probably,,others besides those mentioned, have not been cleared up.