THE GREY SEAT

Grey River Argus, 19 September 1918, Page 3

THE GREY SEAT

THF, GREY ELECTION PETITION

DISCUSSED BY MR. HOLLAND

Notwithstanding the wild weather oi jLuesduy evening, tiieie was a large attendance at tne JUiyceuju Jtiall, when -Mr. i±. iii. Holland, Ai.-f., undertook tne vask oi : analysing the election peution. Air. Maurice l 1 ltz-Ueiaid presiaed. Alter referring in general terms, tc the significance of the petition, Air. Holland said the compilers of it had pa.d a high compliment to the Irisli by assuming that every person with an. Irish name ought to vote Labour. It was peculiar that nearly everybody whose Christian name was Michael or Patrick or Timothy or Maria or Theresa was objected to, and most whose names were Muldoon ,or M'Grath or O'Brien 'or O'Driscoll or Kelly or Evan were also objected to. It didn't always work out that every Irish-named person voted for Labour. Tlie interests of some clashed with the interests of Labour, and their friends seemed to overlook the fact that there were shoneens in N.Z. just as there were shoneens in Ireland. It was to this oversight that the fact that they objected to a number of their own supporters was due. As an illustration of the recklessness with which the list of objections had been made up, he gave a number of instances. Thirty-five voters had been objected to on the ground that they had not been one month^in the Electorate when they enrolled — and there were ten of these, objections which might have established. Some of these ten were, of course, Mr. Coates's supporters. Seven were objected to as aliens, the allegation being that they had hot been naturalised. Three of these were, so far as they knew, Mr. Coates's votes — and one at least had his naturalisation papers. Selecting ' a few cases from the long residence voters objected to on .grounds of having been more than six months of the Electorate ; and yet who had not atjiny time left the Electorate, Mr. Jiolland mentioned the objection to Mrs. Annie Brown- Greymouth, who had resided here for 2U years; "Terry" Dixon, Greymouth, who had been working in the Electorate for five or six years; Mrs. Catherine Jones, who had lived at Greymouth for at least eight years, and had never resided out of the Electorate during those eight years; Miss Agnes Kelly, who had resided in the heart of ' Greymouth for five years, and was a supporter of Mr. Coates; Mrs. Mary Ann Kelly, who had' not been out of the town of Greymouth for the past two and a half years;- Mr. Ernest Patrick Lock, who had been in the Electorate since 1914; Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart, wife of a local wharf labourer, who has been a resident of Greymouth for at least tea years; Mr. Cornelius O'Connor, Cobden, who had been three years in the electorate ; Mrs. Margaret Francis Quinn (wife of 'the proprietor of the Oriental Hotel), resident in Greymouth for the last ten years ; Mr. Timothy Moore, resident in Grey Electorate for the past 25 years; Mr. . Patrick O'Driscoll, who had. stayed at the 'Union Hotel at week ends for the past ten years; Mrs. Sarah Anderson, the wife of a well-known business man o*f Grey, resident of the town for several years ; Mrs. Elizabeth Beams, resident in Grey for the past two years; Miss Evelyn Bennes, who has not been out of the town of Greymouth since she was enrolled in 1917. She is Mr. Felix Campbell's cook. While they were busy charging that she had left the district more than six months she, was busy cooking dinners for My. Felix Campbell; Marion Fennessy, cook at .Royal Hotel during March, April, and May. She was cooking the speaker's dinners at a time when they alleged she wasn't in the electorate; Mr. James Phelan, returned from a holiday in Australia in October, and had stayed here ever since ; Mr. Charles Smith, Bright Street, Cobden, a supporter of Mr. Coates, and a fully qualified voter; Mr. Michael Ryan, another very old identity Of Grey, , a supporter of Mr. Coates ; Mrs. Lily Frances Beale — another. well-known and highly respected lady who had lived here for many years; and so on. At Reef ton and other parts of the Electorate a similar state of things is revealed in the petition. The Act provided that men who go into camp do not lose their voting qualification by reason of their absence on that account. Still that did not prevent their opponents from challenging soldiers' votes, and in one case the wife of a soldier in camp was objected to, although she was fully qualified. , They had alleged that 19 persons who voted were registered in two Electoral Districts. Nine of these had clearly stated on their application forms that they were . registered in other . Electoral Districts — and this fact made their enrolment quite legal. It Avas doubtful whether their friends could have proved that the other ten or any of them were not valid votes, but even if they had done so four of these ten were known supporters of Mr. 'Coates — and had the ballot papers been opened some of the others might , have proved the same. The last number on the 1917 Roll was 8421, and all numbers higher than that were o n the 1918 ...R011, which was compiled during the present year. Consequently any one whose name appeared on the 1918 Roll must of necessity have been resident in Grey within five months immediately prior to the election. The organisers of the petition objected that sixteen ' voters should have had their names removed from the roll on the grounds that they had left the district more than six months, notwithstanding that their numbers on the roll showed that they | had been enrolled within the past five months. Nineteen persons who were objected to as having voted illegally fpr , | Labour had not voted at all; and 28 | who were objected, to by' Mrv-Goates were well-known supporters of that gentleman. When the original 1 petitiott was printed it conveyed the impression that many dead men's votes had been recorded for Labour; but the list revealed that their opponents had only objected to two, dead men's votes. One of these had also been challenged by the Labour Party, and the other man whom Mr. Coates alleged, 'to be dead was found alive and, hearty at Totara Flat and would have duiy appeared in the witness box had the case been fought out. One of the "infants" objected to was a married woman at Runanga, and her birth certificate and marriage lines showed that she was 23 years of age. In all nearly 300 persons had been objected to, and of these 221' Were persons living mostly at the Reefton end -of the electorate, but whose work carried them outside the electoral boundaries. Some of the 221 had been on the Grey Roll for 10, 20, and' even" 30 years. Out. of the total of 300 challenged, and allowing for all cases in which there was the least doubt, he and Mr. Scott (with whose assistance he had made a close analysis of the petition) were satisfied that not more thap 40 could have been struck off

the roll. The Labour Party had ob-? jected to 116 of the opponents' voten, v.nd of these at lease 60 -would liave. been established. Thus, had the petition been fought to a hnish, Mr. Coates's minority would have been increasea" from 148 to about 170: Mr. Holland concluded his address with a reference to the Wellington Central contest, and expressed the opinion that the seat would be won for Labour. ■tie concluded amidst applause, and resolutions congratulating Mr. Fraser on his selection, and wishing him success, and condemning the intrusion of Mr. Mack into the fight were carried unanimously and were ordered to be wired to Mr. Fraser and the A.S.R.S. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to Mr. Holland.