THE ELECTORAL INQUIRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12240, 8 April 1903, Page 3

THE ELECTORAL INQUIRY.

CHARGES AGAINST THE REGISTRAR. THE COMMISSION CONCLUDES ITS SITTINGS. THE ADDRESSES OF THE PARTIES. The Commission, consisting of Mr. W. R. Haselden, S.M. (chairman), and Mr. Hugh Pollen (Under-Secretary for the Colonial' Secretary's Department), which has been set up to inquire into various charges laid against Mr. John King (registrar of electors at Auckland) resumed its sittings at the Supreme Court yesterday. Mr. J. R. Reed, and with him Mr. A. Peak, appeared for the persons pro-feriing the charges against the registrar. Mr. King appeared in person. ■1 lie taking of the evidence had been coneluded at Saturday's sitting, and the Commission sat again yesterday to hear the addresses of the parties. Mr. King, in addressing the Commission, referred to his disadvantage in being unrepresented by counsel in meeting charges of which he was unaware until the opening of tho sittings of the Commission. He had been accused of what amounted to a deliberate crime, for which, if it were proved against him, he should be dismissed. On the other hand, if they were not proved the persons who were responsible for making them were guilt) of an unjust libel upon himself. There had not been one iota of evidence to support the allegation of corrupt actions. As registrar he received a salary of only £100 a year. The Commission had now entered upon its fourth week, and out of_ the sum received as salary ho could not afford to employ counsel. He had had to conduct his own case by day and hunt up papers required by tho complainants at night, and with so much work devolving upon him he was afraid that he had been so often confused as to be unable to do himself justice. The position was further complicated by tho fact that Mr. Fowlds, one of his accusers, was a member of Parliament, and had the power to inflict an injury upon him personally. "When Mr. Fowlds returned from the session last year he (Mr. King) agreed to help him. Pie could not well refuse. Mr. Fowlds got the advance sheets day by day, and if he (Mr. King) had aetod wrongly it was Mr. Fowlds who made him do wrong. He had no power to order the. Government to pay extra for these advance slips, and therefore he could not credit and debit the public account in connection with the transaction. What ho did for Mr. Fowlds he did for others. He regretted that he did what he had done in the matter, but when the accounts were finally settled he would be able to show that he was not a gainer by it. In acting as lie did he did it merely to oblige those interested, and as it was outside of his official duties it was Ids own concern whether he did it gratuitously or not, so long as ho treated all alike. He referred to the difficulty of preparing the rolls after tho readjustment of districts, and the likelihood of mistakes made in the work. If ho had, in order to avoid trouble, enrolled all and sundry as the claims came in, ho would have offended nobody. With the object, however, of keeping the rolls as pure as possible he had used every care, with the result that ho at once got into trouble. Mr. Reed said that Mr. Fowlds, who was present in Court, had just handed him the following written contradiction of one of tho statements made by Mr. King:"l never once asked Mr. King for any favour or advance sheets of the roll. The rolls ware voluntarily offered by Mr. King to Mr. Spragg, and the advance sheets were sent to him and paid for by him. I neither spoke to Mr. King about them nor received any from him or paid him." Mr. Reed then addressed the Commission. He said it was true that it was easy for a registrar to err, and had there been only a few mistakes made, thore would have .been no necessity for the present inquiry. When. however, they found such a large number of mistakes directed against the temperance party tho implication of corrupt practices was fairly justified. Ho thon dealt seriatim with the charges made against the registrar. In the courso of his remarks he said that in 12 cases, in which Mr. King invoked the assistance of the police as to the genuineness of the signatures, and in which 11 claims wore reported en favourably and oils as doubtful, the registrar rejected 10 as being on wrong forms and one as being a duplicate. The time of the police, which might have been more profitably employed in looking up people along the boundaries of the districts, etc., was, in regard to these 12 claims at least, absolutely wasted. As to Mrs. Ohatfiold's claim, that was clearly accepted by Mr. King after ho received tho telegram announcing tho issue of the writs. The memo. from the Telegraph Department, which supported the evidence of Messrs. Spudding and Hare, showed that Mr. King received the telegram at twelve minutes past nine a.m. on November 12. As to Mr. King's statement that he rocsived the telegram about a-quarter to eleven or eleven a.m.. that could not have been so, as Mr. King was in attendance at the Court at that time. Mr. King said he had been since informed that he was not in the Police Court that morning. Mr. Reed said ho could bring evidence to show that Mr. King was in Court that morning. Ho also produced a copy of the New Zealand Herald of November 13, showing that several ordinary cases were heard before the electoral case was taken, and that therefore Mr. King must have been occupied at the Court a considerable time.

In dealing with the allegations of corrupt conduct, Mr. Reed said it was almost absolutely impossible to directly prove corruption. It could only bo proved by reasonable deductions from ascertained facts and from the weight of evidence. In this respect tho evidence given as to the charge made by Mr. King for advance sheets of the roll was very useful. It was proved that Mr. King had been making a secret profit out of his official position by supplying these advance sheets. If he would act thus to serve his own ends, it was. Mr. Reed contended, only reasonable to suppose that be would also act unfairly towards (ho general public when it suited his private interests to do so. Ho referred to the cases of Messrs. G. M. Johnston and Entrican, the Caloy family, and G. W. Spragg, as showing that in order to get even with persons against whom he imagined he had a grievance, Mr. King had deprived thorn of their franchise. It had also boon shown that Mr. King had an animus against Mr. Fov.dds and Mr. Spedidng, the former having moved in the House to reduce his salary as deputy-registrar of old ago pensions, and the latter having prosecuted him in several cases. In concluding, Mr. Reed said that Mr. Spodding and his party had. at the expenditure of much money, time, and trouble, undertaken the prosecution of the charges. There was no vindictive feeling towards Mr. King personal!v, but there was a strong- feeling that Mr. King was absolutely unfitted for the position of registrar of electors in an important city like Auckland. Mr. King was a man of strong likes and dislikes, and he acted upon these Jikes and dislikes to the disadvantage of the public generally. Mr. Reed said that Sir. Spedding wished to deny the statement that he had at any time threatened to make Mr. King " sit up," or that lie had used any similar expression. Mr. Bowden, a olerk in the employ of Mr. Fowlds, also denied that he had used any threat towards Mr. King, as stated by one of the letter's witnesses, cither on the occasion referred to or at any other time. The business of the inquiry being concluded, Mr. Haselden said that the Commission would report to the Governor in due course. He said that all the parties concerned in the inquiry could congratulate themselves that, the proceedings had been conducted all through with perfect decorum and good temper. The inquiry was then closed.