DECLARATION OF THE POLL FOR CITY EAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1314, 1 February 1868, Page 5

DECLARATION OF THE POLL FOR CITY EAST.

TnE official declaration of the state of tho poll for the election of a mombcr to repro ient the electoral district of City Kaet, in thi Provincial Coun> il, took place yesterday, in tho hill of tho Mechanics' Institute.

The TCBTtraNr.ve Officeb (Colonel Balneavis), declared the result of the poll to ho us follows : Mr. W.J. Buret 163 Mr. C. Davis 107 Majority for Mr. Hurst .. .. 56 He had thereforo to declare William .fohn Hurst, Heq.. of Eden Crescent, leaseholder, duly elected a member of the Provincial Council, for the district of Auckland, City Enst. Mr. W. J. jfuBST eaid beforo proceeding to what whs more legitimately tho object of the mooting, he had a few remarks to offer with their permission. Ho vroulrl cnll th=>ir attention to a letter which had appeared in the Southern Cross of the 28th January, in which a person writing under the nome deplume of "A Country Settler." said that " Mr. Stafford endeavoured to cut off £10,000 from the Postal Service, but -svae beaten off, and not to abolish tho Auckland Serrk-e, as Mr. liurst tried to mako the electors believe." Now Mr. Carleton was a pereon who did not like anyone to impute motives to him, and therefore ho ought to be the more careful not to impute motives toothers. What he (Mr. Uurst) had mantamed was this, that the men of the South, and Mr. Stuflord, eo fine a talker' ns ho was, nnd with nil his st.itcemni-like qualities had permitted a Toto of £IG,OOO wish respect to tho whole Poetal Service* of New Zealand, when it can-.o to a veto of £6000 tho Southern gentlemen opposed it, and thu.=) while cutting ofl" tho frteam Postal Service of Auckland, they loft tho wholo of Ihe South intact. He maintained that tho thing was unjust, an J he was surprised that gentlemen who ■were said to bo so high-minded «hould,'so attempt to mislead the Auckland public. It was undeniable that those Southern gontletnen had mot together, and out. f.ff the Auckland Postal Service, without touching ll.eir imi. Jt was a onc-eido i policv thitt ought, not to .cj.tinuc-. X] ICT should endoavour to keep the power of self-government in Auckland. Mr. Carleton did not eny thiit he ivas an ememployee of tho Government himself, and that he had got Ins own salary fi Xt d for thro yeorp, bo that hu could not bo affected by any change, and yet now ho ca.no out 113 the champion of reduction and retrenchment; he cordially thanked thr. electoro for tbo support they hud mvt-n him, in Meeting him by t» lave majority ov(:iiirrint!<ma:nnuch respected in this Province, ami ol such hij-u busiiv-ss habits. (Cheers). Ho not only ihankv.l those who voted for him, but who did for not tho h-x a,-d candi i manner in wl-ich they hiid'Bctea. ife would endeavour to justify tlio true!: reposed in hjui, by serving tho elector to the ben of bisabihty. (Cheers). He was perfectly sincere

in what he sail, and would endeavour to i-how it. Hβ felt grateful for tho honour they had conferred on mm in electing him over a gentleman holding rs high a position, and would endeavour to diecharge nis duties conscientiously. (Oheers). Bfr. O. Davis said he hud felt it hie bounden dutv to attend the meeting in order to return thanke, and ho did so most heartily from a double point of view. In the first instance he would expreß3 his thanks to thofio who had not vot. d for him, and who hnd assisted in relieving him of very onerous and laborious duties, and which under present circumstances, he might perhaps not have been able to perform in such a manner ae to do his dut" to his constituents honestly and fairly ; but as o had not bf en returned, he was just as grateful, and though his business might m t permit of his performing the duties satiefuctorily, ho hoped to be in a position to do bo at some futuro day. Why he did not regret having como out, and having boon defeated, was that it had opened his eyes to one or two matters. Xo doubt they were burthened with taxation that thty could not long boar, and that must bn curtailed. Provincial ■Councils cnuld not be borne with tho heavy expenses hitherto ill Inching to them, and therefore they must be abolished, but to do ho without r*t ining the rights and privileges which they hnd struggled at long for would bo u scrioue error, and be would warn tliem against fulling into it. Ho hoped Air. Huret would defend those privileges, as ho h:mself would if returned. Before any change was made h> thosn institutions they hnd so long strove to muintain, they should have care to retain tho power of self- government, by means of I jO cal Boards. Them was unother in"atter','that slxuld bo noticed by the Council, yiz., the Electoral KolJ. In itn present condition it wat no doubt {.rnduetivo of briber}' and corruption. For tho first time that ho hud troubled himself to look into it he had found it very incorrect. Like ledgers, whon one set of accounts ware closed they should be wiped off, but there aro men on that roll who hud been dead or absent for 3'eas ; which produced fraud and po r ßnnntions in elections. (Mr O. Lowia: No doubt about it. I know of many such cases Three or four hundred should be struck off). If Mr. Hurst appeared hore to-day tis the successful candidate with a majority of Eβ -rotce, he had certainly oxerted himself in order to obtain those votce, using hie best enorgies to socurfl his roturn Ho aeetned to niako it a sort of hobby to boeome one of our Provincial Councillors, and thorefore he (.Mr. Davis) congratulated him on his ret'lrn, and hoped ho would perform his duties as ho (Mr. Davis) would havo endeavoured to do had lie been returned. At tho same timo ho knew that many of those votee were recorded dishonestly, and he did not make this statement without good grounds. He had boen informed by the deck clerks that one voto had been recorded in tbo name of 9. 11. Webb, but irom that very gontleman, now in Kngland, ho (Mr. Davis) had received n, letter relative to the Bank of .Auckland. This was only one instance that would serve to show how others of a timilar character might creep in. Vo doubt there was bribery more or less in all elections. Hi , himself while walking; down the etreet on the day of election w.is accosted by one person who said, " Will you pive me a d.iy'n wago and I will give- you my voto." Thnt is tho way in which votes wore recorded, and bribery and corruption was produced. He thanked thone who had supported him, and upon whom he might again call at some future dny.

Mr. llrjBST B»id there was only one duty remaiaing for them to do, viz., to propose a vote of thanks to the K« turning Officer. While doing so ho would entirely disclaim having had any concern directly or indirectly with personation, or thnt there was any corruption in connection wiih his election. Ho had too much sympathy with the eentimeiMe expressed by lha hut speaker to leave himself open to such a charge. Tie was awnre that sucli a name as Webb h>id been <-nter«d. and ho was sorry that it had boon allowed to creep in, and he would challongo anyone to eay that lie had boon aware of anything of tho kind. Ho would not lend hinuclf to ouch u procoeiirg ho could a-euro them. He beeged to propose a vuto of thitnks to tho Returning Oflic-fT. ?jlr. Davis seconded the 'notion, which waa carried by ucclauiati'Jii. Tho UfiTtJHMXO Ofpicjh Enid as ITr. Davis had referred to tho cun'lition of ihe Hieetoral Koll, he (Col. Bilneavi-0 mitiht nt:ito t'.iiit it was the duty of tli!> doctors of thn City East during tho month of .-Vjril to B"nd in tin: names of thoso people now on the roll who weroi dead or absent, who.i he would be perfectly willing to strike off every one of them. He liimsi'lf had no power to nfcriko off narues unless they wero font in tho proper, form ; ho hud not oven powor to strike out tho mime of a person ..horn lie iictuiilly know to bo dead, unle.'s ho wa3 dibtinctly informed that ho was so. It was tho electors who were expected to forward th« nuecssiiry information. As to personation at elections it was a difficult thing to prevent it, but candidates were allowed polling clerks, whoso duty it was to look sharply after such matters. Ih mooting thon dispersed.