WAITEMATA ELECTION PETITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9432, 12 February 1894, Page 5

WAITEMATA ELECTION PETITION.

Mi' I" ■ h ... 4 j PRESS OPINIONS. A REALLY GOOD MAN WANTED. AT' the close of ; the Waiteniata election petition inquiry On Friday their honours the Chief Justice (Sir James Prehdergast)" and ( Mr. Justice Conolly granted certificates of indemnity to those Who Had Confessed to feeing either bribers brbrihees.with the exception ] of Mr. James Stewart and Mr. E. W. Monk. • In regard to these two witnesses the Judges < Stated that they did not know they had the ] power to grant the indemnities asked for* ft ' "full* free, and satisfactory discovery " nob < having been made. They would; however j consult authorities to see what had been 1 done uuder similar circumstances in English , oases. '■'■'■ :, v- '■-■ i,yi *,;■■-' .*>*:- &>x<**t • »On Saturday morning, at the Supreme Court, decision was given. The Chief Jus- ' tics briefly repeated what had been Said the ' previous day in regard to declaring the seat ' void and disqualifying tile respondent for ft < period of twelve months; He then went oh ! to speak of the applications for indemnity ' made the previous day, and said he and Mr. i Justice Conolly declined to grant the two j certificates asked for oil the ground that a 'Mull,, free, and< satisfactory discovery" of ' the facts relating to the election had not been ! made by them. ( <: »'t% ■ is I TELICGRAM FROM THE PREMIER. « Mr. Jackson Palmer received the follow- ] ing telegram from the Premier on Saturday -. —"Jackson Palmer, Esq., Auckland. Re < Monk.—Your telegram, giving result of trial i received. On reading press report of the i evidence tendered, and if purity of Piirlia- j meat was to be maintained, it was impossible for any other decision. to be given. I am j simply amassed to think that a gentleman holafn? Mr. Monk's views on the temperance I question should have defended the action. ' Many men holding less pronounced views I would have scorned to hold a seat which had ' been.won by such questionable means. Pro- < bably he did not believe it possible that i alcohol had played such a material factor in securing his return. The trial teaches a lesson which it is well to observe. I am strongly of the opinion that if poor men are , to have a fair chance of being returned to Parliament, and if the Parliament is to be ' kept pure, amendments of a stringent character are required in our electoral laws, one of such' amendments being the closing up of public houses during the hours of polling on election day. I Congratulate you . on your success in exposing the wrong-doing during the Waitemata election.R. J. Seddon, Wellington. OPINIONS OF THE WELLINGTON PAPERS. [BY. TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] '. Wellington, Sunday. The Waitemata election inquiry is the topic of the hour in Wellington. All the papers refer to it. The Opposition evening paper bestows on the electors of Waitemata the "severest criticism. Mr. Monk, who,has been.unseated, is not spared, although exonerated by the Judges. The whole business is regarded as a scandal and a disgrace. The Post Says:—"That Mr. Monk should be unseated for Waiteniata was inevitable after the* case against him began to develop. Unblushing bribery and treating were proved against his agents, amongst whom his sou oc3upied a far from creditable position. The electorate appears to include a very large proportion of scum, and it would be a difficult thing to find in the colony a more disreputable batch of voters than some of the free and independent who drank beer with Mr. Monk, jun., accepted his benevolence, and then carried the story of his transgressions to the other side, winding up as witnesses against the man they had voted for. The discoveries in the c*se offered what should be an instructive commentary on the beauties of a universal suffrage. Mr. Monk's beer-swilling supporters of both sexes are nice people to have a voice in the government of the country, and to be able to perhaps determine the balance Of political power in Parliament! Surely such people should not be permitted to have votes at all. Even the most extreme democrats might cheerfully accept a certain amount of gaol service as involving loss of franchise. •We trust that the electors of Waitemata, when the task of choosing another representative devolves upOn'them, will feel that the recent disclosures imposed upon the respectable electors of the district a special duty of exerting themselves to secure the return to Parliament of a really good man as their representative. They should vindicate themselves in the character of the rerlresenative they choose to fill the now vacant seat, and return a member who will do credit to the district and to the House." _-. The Press indulges in the same strain thus : —" But why should these things be Poll-ing-day picturesquenCss may be well enough in its way; but when it involves a prosti 4 tutioh of the franchise, it is surely bought too dearly. Things' that cannot be dispensed with Ih Parliament are intellectual strength I and moral wholesomeness. But can an ex- ; cess of bacchanalianism on polling-day be expected to contribute to their presence there? Every electorate has its fair share of political foolishness. Surely it should not be aggravated, especially on polling-day, by inebriety amongst even a minority of the electors. To prevent this, why not close the publichouses on the day in question? The free-beer incidents of this Waitemata election will undoubtedly not only strengthen the conviction of those who already think that this should be done, but will add to their number. If the whole country came to be of that opinion, the whole country would probably also come to be a gainer in consequence.'' ______«_„___»»