ELECTION INQUIRY

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 128, 1 June 1935, Page 10

ELECTION INQUIRY

CITY COUNCIL ONLY

LABOUR APPLICATION

TWO POINTS RAISED

Formal application was 1 Ddged at the Magistrate's Court today t in behalf of the Labour Representation . Committee for a Magisterial inquiry t nto the election of members of the Cilj> Council on May 8. The inquiry will- be held on Tuesday, June 11.

The petition is signed by ten electors of the city, and after sett ing -out the names of candidates and uhe declaration of the returning offic^ r as to the fifteen successful candidate s, states the two grounds of complaiu it in legal phraseology. •

The complaint immediate! Ity after the election that insufficient va liing papers were available at certain po (ling places is not made in the petition,, which refers first to.company votes and secondly to plural, or apparent pl'iiiral, votes, and is confined to the Gr.ty Council issue.

The wording of the petil iion on the two points is as follows:—

"1. Section 13 of the Loc* il Elections and Polls Amendment Ac t, 1926, ordains that any corporate boe ly the name of which has been duly en^ ered on the roll prepared for the purn oses of the election, may, by. resolutii )n, appoint some person to vote on its' behalf, the production of a sealed cq py of such resolution authorising suet i person to vote being the authority p rescribed to allow the person named '. therein to vote, and the Returning ( Dfflcer committed a breach of the sail I section in that a number of votes cas t on behalf oi: corporate bodies were allowed as valid though the authorities produced were not in the prescribed form.

"2. It is provided furthet.r by section 14 of the s'aid Act that ti .ie authorityprescribed by section 13 shall be retained by the deputy reto irning officer and delivered to the Retui :ning Officer, but in certain cases the ; provisions of the said section were not t observed. "3. Section 30 of the s ;aid Act provides that the Returning Officer shall select from the packets;-. of voting papers the votes of any person who appears to have received a i voting paper at two or more polling' places, and shall disallow every vote: appearing to I have been given by mea ns of the voting papers so selected, ind the provisions of the said section were not observed in that the Reia jrning Officer did not take any steps i o satisfy himself that the votes so disallowed were in fact invalid. "Your petitioners therefore humbly pray:— 1. That the roll be /scrutinised for the purpose of disi :overing how many corporate bodie s voted in the said election. ' 2. That all votes. caj st on behalf of corporate bodies withj out the authority prescribed by sec tion 13 be disallowed. ': 3. That a scrutiny be held in respect of all votes dis^ illow.ed by the Returning Officer puj :porting to act in virtue of the provu iions of section 30 of the said Act. 4 That your petitioi iers be allowed such further or othej.• relief as in the circumstances ma y be just. INQUIRY AND I INDING. The petition is lodjjed under the Local Elections and Pol] s Act, 1925. Section 58 states that any candidate and five electors, or ten elc ictors, who are dissatisfied with the ires ult of any election may within fourteen days of the declaration of the resi alt of the election demand an inqiri ry by filing a petition in proper fori n, accompanied by a deposit of £10. Section 59 requires ti hat the petition shall allege the specific grounds on which the complaint i s founded, and that no grounds other i nan those specified shall be investigj ited, except by leave of the Magistrate; and upon sufficient notice being giv en. The next section set s out who may be respondents, and set :tion 61 requires the inquiry to be held within fourteen days of the filing of ijhe petition. The Magistrate may cite pa rties or call evidence as in his ordirj ary jurisdiction, and in addition "nj ay at any time during the inquiry c lirect a recount or scrutiny of the vq tes given at the election or poll, and si hall disallow the vote of every person w ho (a) has voted, not being entitled to; vote, or (b) has given more votes tlian be was entitled to give." • Section 63 reads: ; "The Magistrate shall determine whe'tjier, by reason of some irregularity thsrt in his opinion materially affected tl le result of the election or poll, the i election or poll is void; or whether, i| i the case of an election, the Candida te whose election is complained of, -or any and what other candidate, was duly elected. . . ." Penalties are p? escribed for those who wilfully corrijmit irregularities which affect the resialt of an election. This year there 'was a remarkably high number of an parent dual votes. That is, the ruling out of names on the rolls may indi cate that Caesar Augustus Willie Ji jnes voted in two ■polling places, btj t past experience suggests that thede apparent dual votes are almost al ways due to errors on the part of polli ng booth officials in ruling out names a s voting papers are being given out. The Magistrate ] nay order that. the expenses of the inrjuiry shall be borne by either or any party to the inquiry, and may order thj; return or retention of the deposit paid when the petition is filed. If an election is declared void a fresh election is 1:o be held not later than 25 days afteu the declaration. The decision made is 1 o be final.