CORRESPONDENCE.

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 26, 30 March 1928, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE BY-ELECTION.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —From the correspondence which ha.3 appeared in your paper over the signature of Mr. B. S. Knox, Town Clerk, with reference to the recent by-election, the following facts are gathered:— (1) He admits that he- received the nomination paper at 8.30 a.m. on Friday, January 27th, on which date the nominations closed at mid-day. (2) That he knew one of the nominators personally. (3) That because a deposit did not accompany the nomination he treated it as "informal." (4) That repeated efforts were made to secure his attention on the telephone between 9.36 a.m. and mid-day, without success. (5) That he instructed hia staff that he was not -to be disturbed by any* callers during the morning or by telephone calls. (6) That it was his duty to assist ratepayers in connection with the interpretation and meaning of any Act having reference to the affairs of the Borough. It is clear from the Town Clerk's own admission that he received the nomination paper early enough for him to have advised the nominators, who, by the way, are on the 'phone, that the nomination was not complete, in plenty of time for them .to have put it in order. His excuse for not taking this reasonable line of action is, as published in his letter, that "it is not his function to rectify these matters, and that if the paper is informal when it comes to his hands it is informal, and must on that account be discarded." Now, Sir, I submit that the Town Clerk's conception of his responsibilities as Returning Officer is remarkable both for its unreasonableness and its dogmatic presumption. On the basis of his treatment of my nomination paper and his own peculiar interpretation of the Act, it would appear that should a ratepayer place a nomination paper in the Returning Officer's hands without the deposit, our electoral officer would consider that it was not his function to rectify the matter and would treat the nomination as informal, without advising' the nominator.

I an; positive in my opinion that the bulk of the ratepayers in the Hutt district will agree with my contention that when our legislators framed the Act quoted by the Town Clerk they never intended that such arbitrary powers as those usurped by our Returning Officer should be conceded to him or any other similar official in the Dominion. It is generally understood by every intelligent citizen that Acts »f Parliament, especially those dealing: with municipal affairs, cannot possibly cope with every contingency that might arise, h«nce it is expected of those responsbile for the administration of these enactments that they should apply them with common sense and impartiality.

The Town Clerk in his reply to my previous letter admitted that it was his duty to assist ratepayers who wer» in difficulty with regard to the meaning and application of legislation affecting them as ratepayers of the Borough. Yet on this occasion, when the opportunity presented itself for him to give a praojtical demonstration of his written profession, and when such assistance would have meant the immediate adjustment of an inadvertent error, this help "as not forthcoming. Instead we find that he placed himself, on his own undertaking, in a position where neither he nor his help could be secured. This action on the part of the Returning Officer on this particular day on which nominations closed for a vacancy on the Council requires some explanation from him. According to this official's own published statement, he gave instructions to his staff that he was not to be disturbed by callers or by calls on the telephone all the morning. This meant that he was "not at home" to any ratepayers, even though the business might be of a most urgent and important nature. The reason adduced by the Town Clerk to substantiate this action was "that he was engaged in a most important interview for practically the whole of the morning." . . I submit. Sir, that it is a somewhat strange coincidence that the Town Clerk should have to be placed in a position on this particular morning when nominations for a vacancy on the Council were closing at noon, which made it impossible for him to be available to the ratepayers, In hia official capacity as Returning Officer. This peculiar circumstance doubtless did not escape the notice of the official concerned, and it therefore is -more than passing strange to me to learn that he deliberately isolated himself. Having had occasion to observe that the Town Clerk is such a stickler for procedure. I would suggest that he carefully peruse the Statutes dealing with the duties of Returning Officers and find out whether he is justified in segregating himself from his official duties for any period from' the openin gto the closing date of nominations without having a deputy appointed. If I am correct in my assumption that the procedure adopted by the Town Clerk was not strictly in accordance with the regulations made under the Act, then obviously his action in deliberately placing himself in an unavailable position on the morning of January 27th was wrong in principle and procedure. Furthermore, as a ratepayer of the district I wduld like to ask the question as to what was the nature of the interview that was said to be of such importance as to warrant the Town Clerk's somewhat autocratic ultimatum that he was not to be disturbed by calls from anybody, which of course includes his employers—the ratepayers—for the whole of the morning? Unless he can conclusively prove that the interview was of such momentous importance as to require not the slightest interruption during the whol« of the forenoon, and further, Jth*% He wm not the recipient

of any message! from his staff or others during that time, then the action of the Town Clerk in placing a barrier against the legitimate approach of ratepayers on this occasion is one that demands explanation from our civic authorities.

In concluding, I desire to state that 1 would not have again requested space in your valued paper for the purpose of ventilating my views on this matter, but for the puerile explanation given by the Returning Officer for the part he has played in the recent by-election and his subsequent crude attempt to side-track the major points at issue. If my friend will be kind enough to reply to the matters referred to in this letter and can put forward more convincing material than he has in his previous epistles, he will have a better chance of placing himself "on side" -with the ratepayers than by resorting to vacuous subterfuge.—Yours, etc., H. 11. BROWN, President, "VVaiwetu Progressive Assn.