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Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22320, 3 May 1947, Page 6

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RAGLAN _PETiTION VOTING BY MAORIS ' STATUS OF YUGOSLAV (P.A.) HAMILTON May 3. Althougn its marathon course is not vet tuliy run. the end of ihe Electoral Court's hearing of Hailyburtor, Johnstone's petition to reverse the result of the general election in Raglan was in sight when it adjourned yesterday alter sitting tor three weeks. Although the respondent’s case is not quite completed little except formal evidence remains to be neard and submissions by counse' should commence during Monday’s sitting The evidence now extends over 270 typewritten pages of toolscap. or more than 100,000 words. Of this 179 pages were typed during the presentation of the petitioner's case. Witnesses Fail to 'Appear A feature of yesterday’s proceedings was tnat .three electors who had been served with suopoenas to attend as witnesses aid not respond when their names were called. One witness appeared later in Lie day, but was not men required as alternative evidence naa been heard. Another offered no explanation in writing or otherwise altnough he bad been advertised lor in the personal columns oi a newspaper, while the third, who was waiting in Court on Thursday afternoon had. according to a telegram sent to the Court b.y her employer, suffered a breakdown in Hamilton on Thursday nigiit and was too ill to appear yesterday. An' unusual question askea yesterday aiternoon was whether an elector who nas been in New Zealand since 1925. but whose lather alter being naturalised in New Zealand under the 19U8 statute returned to iiis native country, Yugoslavia, where the son was born, is now possessed of British nationality. Circumstances Outlined An agreed statement ol ttie facts presented to the Court by counsel snowed that the voter, Neailko Male Devcicfi, was the son of Marian Devoid:, a native oi Yugoslavia, who obtained letters patent oi naturalisation in New Zealand about 1908 under the Aliens Act oi that year. In 1910 he returned to Yugoslavia, marrying a native of that country. The voter was born in Yugoslavia in 1913 ol that marriage. Later ihe lather returned to New Zealand and again went back to Yugoslavia. me voter had at no time appliecj tor naturalisation in New Zealand or elsewhere. and his lather had at no time anoned lor a ceruncale oi naturalisation under Section 9 of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens (in New Zealand) Act 1925. or under Section 5 of Uie British Nationality, and Status of Aliens (in "Jew Zealand) Act, 1928. Devcien, giving evidence said he was farming at Ngahinepouri and had voted in Kagian. vv nen no applied lor registration a few years ago he struck out tne declaration that he was British by birth, but did not delete the declaration that he was British by naturalisation, wnich he oelieved to be correct because of the status his father had obtained under the 1908 Act. He was burn in 1913 at Pod Gora, in Yugoslavia. He came to New Zealand in 1925 with a brother and their father. All travelled on British passports. Father in Yugoslavia More recently his father again went to Jugoslavia, intending to dispose of propoiiy mere and return permanently to New Zealand, but the war intervened and his lather was still in Yugoslavia. to Mr. R. E. Tripe, for the petitioner, Devcicn said he uad always believed t niiself to be British. His legal advisers bac; supported that view. He owned his farm at Ngahinepouri, and when he had inadvertently failed to register lor military service ne was fined in Hamilton. Later, lie was three times called up tor military service, and.three .times exempted as a farmer. On no occasion was Jie excused as an alien, and on no occasion did he raise that defence. Witness said he considered himself a British subject today, but if from the present proceedings it emerged that he was not. he would certainly apply for naturalisation. The Chief Justice. Sir Humphrey O'Leary, sain u. would be a matter for a dry legai argument to determine this voter’s status. When the Court resumed after lunch Mr. T. P.. Cleary, for the respondent,' announced that the witness 'Thomson had arrived to give evidence, but as far as the respondent's case was concerned he was not required. Commended by Chief Justice The Court gave Mr. A. L. Tompkins, for the petitioner, an opportunity to call Thomson, but Mr. Tompkins said that as Thomson did not dispute, the evidence given as to his arrival at Coates.ille, there was no need to call him as a witness. Thomson was commended by the Chief justice for having attended in to a subpoena, although at eons derable inconvenience. One voter challenged as having predominantly Maori blood was Barney Haddon. When his name was nailed without response in the Court precincts Mr r, ~'' 1-i - ' *’--i '' v,a served with a subpoena at New Ply mou.n o.i ,i. .. i„. been obtained from him for the subpoena dnet for £3/15/- travelling expenses paid to him. He was told that he vv. u.d be adv sed by telegraph as to tlie exact, date he was required to appear in court. Cn April 24 he left New Plymouth, leaving a message there that an advertisement in the personal column of a Taranaki newspaper would be the means cf ccm’ unicating with him. Such an advertisement was pub ished on April 28 and 29. telling Radaon to appear in Court at 10 a.m. on Wednesday of this week, but although a watch had been l.ept for lint, he had not been seen. Other evidence would, however, be called to support the objection. Labour Party Organiser Orivva Haddon, woo described himself as an organiser employed by the New Zea and Labour Party, said Barney Haddon was his nephew, and until just after the election was working for Tukotahi Minhinnick, aonthcr chrpenged voter, who gave evidence on Ynursc ay. Barney Haddon was now living In New Plymouth. W.tness and Ins brother James—the father of Barney—were half-castes. Ine r father, the Rev. Robert Tahu Hadden, was a half-caste, as was also their mother. Each of his parents, said witness, was a child of a full European lather and of full Maori mother. Witness said his sister-in-law—the wife of his brother James and mother of the voter Barney Haddon—was a full Maori, He had been keeping a watch in the courtroom and elsewhere in Hamilton s.ncc Wednesday morning for his nephew, but the latter had not appeared. To Mr. Tompkins tiic witness admitted that he was interested in the present case because .of his position as a Labour Party organiser. Asked if his bro:her James could not attend the court, witness said his brother was a permanent invalid with spinal trouble, having spent nearly four years in plaster. It would be extremely inconvenient for his brother to attend tiic Court. Witness summed up his evidence by saying that nis nephew, who recently became 21 years of age, was a threequarter Maori Mr. Tompkins asked for leave to call further evidence later if he desired. 11l Following Breakdown Mr. Cleary, returning to the case of the three iVlinhinnieks, challenged on Thursday, said Wikitoria Minhinnick had been in Court on Thursday afternoon, but her turn as witness was not reached before the Court adjourned She had lo return on Thursday night to the farm on which she and her husband were sharemilking. However, the arrangement was that she should be in Court again yesterday afternoon. “1 have just been handed by the registrar of the Court a telegram from her employer, which stales: 'Wikitoria .Minhinnick ill following breakdown in Hamilton last evening’," said Mr. Cleary, who added that the telegram

had been lodged in Tuakau yesterday morning and was signed "Muir. "All I can say is that she was _in apparently good health last evening when she left the Court, said Mr. Cleary, who was given leave to call the case again on Monday morning. Ngarehu Rarton. who voted in Raglan at the last election, sain an aunt told her last Monday 'hat her fathei was a full-blooded Maori. Previously she had not known tier father’s degree of Maori blood, but she thought that her grandfather was a ship s captain. Her mother’s mother was a full Maori, and her maternal grandfather was. full European. She had always voted as a European, and had been in the Raglan electorate since HIM. Vernon Richard Tout was challenged as an infant, but doubt was raised as to whether in spite of his infancy, be was qualified to vote because of military service overseas: The case was held over for an inquiry by counsel.