THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12328, 21 July 1903, Page 6

THE ELECTORAL ROLLS.

■:' ■■ •■ - :■''■'•■■':( '■■'■' ■■, : : ' ■>■!."• ■■;?s:vi.,;■■-"-5;-';.---..,;;;,:,.,;,:;;,- fYir^y'^m^mS PUBLIC INQUIRY CtSfEp. "* 111 ". :■•■■■/'•■:'•'• ! ' '-'h .':-'/: ; ' ■- . : ?.'-.- ; ;. > TTj'-^Myk l*S : :/-J : :|Sf |l|f STARTLING ALLEGATA '- ■■~-•.";: • 'ii L THE - special committee set ujjy the* C,t ' ; j Council to go into the question.] the cond tion of the district eleetol ro ii „„, the method of' conducting < ] ate 3 " ■" „ mc:pal elections, opened -. '^ in _;v£ : at the Municipal Buildings last 4"*; ■ S. C. Brown-was in the chair, a th ere -«•«' - also present, among others, 'HifiSH 1 Mayor (Hon. E. Mitehelson), JfLTpM . nail, CJ. Parr, A. E, Glover, : W Wit i 1 (town clerk), and Dr. Skarmaa.' * ""** J -%| The Chairman pointed out th» ,-„„' I was of a purely informal charts ""&»£ fc had no power to compel the &%*-£} ae ? ?;■ W . anyone, and the evidence would »>£?&. of : '' -"•■'' ;■■ on oath. An advertisement Erin^ ke s I , s asking people who had complain ♦£ p !? r 1 Mi • in respect to the arrangements fo „?"£* I r poll to come forward. Several S^. i?S •'/! 3 written, and would give evidence"™ J??i ; 1 . testimony bearing on the question."! ™S~£! 1 be ottered would be taken. Ut HUBllt 1 Mrs. Agnes E. Colvin was the fi; w it„i.. / v called. She stated that she had sffiS- ' - ' I the Mayor pointing ( out a diffictd?«wi*?iffl > perienced m recording her vote atSe'tfX'/ H . municipal -election.' On the pollin^ T ,a fH a-quarter to four in the afternoon. *^! WM to the old police station in High-str? t ££ Pll > waited until four o'clock, the bootHS J blocked. Seeing that there was -no JJSSj |H s of voting there she went to the Drff^,l fifl - Being unable to vote at this place, £?„ MM r ■ turned to the old police station and * 1 the block as great as ever. Finally #1 I corded her vote at the Mission Hall ™.Vl • she lost an hour. ,** i «, In r *? ly to questions put-from the <L; > ' I the witness. said she was accompani&nl '4 another elector who had not voted wffi W f left. ; She had no trouble in voting for £l ■ didates for the Council.' but only for*? • I r Central MiSSi ° U *t ' ' » M / 3 J O'Carroll, Short-street (East W,'. i stated that she" went to the Central Miss iii a nail for the purpose of recording her v, WM - ??«* W9 mform «l by the official in «k, U that she was not on the roll. Subseanm ■ sue went to High-street, but could So! , i i? 1 ? I? 8 room iw upwards of half-an-h, -•' 1 -Had she not very much wished to vote fort : » candidate she would not have persevereriE" Ml , her attempts. She considered the work 3' V I made for taking the poll, especially t w !S1 . Mayor, utterly inadequate. ' "t |l« ' *u\ examination, Mrs.. O'Carroll admidi ' • that she was not entitled to vote for ,' > Conned at the Central Mission Hall, but 7 1 ougat to have been allowed to vote for Mi tp|fi ',- ■ Mr. Glover said Mr. Witheford went fa ■■ ; James' Hall to record' his : vote, •.and -M »!» : first informed i his -, nam* could s not *he 'ft J, '-":"'& . on the. roll. Afterwards he stated'in rP- . to a question that his property was in if, i sonby, and the name was eventually four VMMt _ The chairman then ,-ead a letter from j.VV< ' Burns, of Brunswick-street (South Ward)' * i stated that she -~ had great , difficulty iafe cording her vote for ?dayor. She waits SfflH St. James' Hall-nearly an hour, and • large numbers of persons leave in disgust I - out voting, anther opinion better arras, ; 1 . ments ought to have been made. • f " , _ Mrs. Niool stated that site was employe- y Mr. Hansen to scrutinise the papers nasspln connection with t&e > Sunday trams. • toSII ■ °y, er 1 . 3000 papers passed through her Still ? t r tne wards, with the exception of Scfi . ward, .-being included.':*' Several /irregular *«!H came under her notice. A batch of 400 ad' , cation forms were signed before a canvas Nlii , who was not himself an elector, and he thfe; : iore took; them to another person tolbe tlillS tested, -o The person ' attesting the - applicai ills papers did not see them signed. r ; Mr. Parr: What became of those 400 dm ff W§ Witness: They are on the roll, H i Mrs. Nicol was pressed to give - the nati"''of, the canvasser who took the papers toU attested and of»the man/ who;■- attested th£ ®g she stated .that/she had -no, wish to mii :. any charge against anybody, and the meai • ' question were very respectable persons, 3* would not wilfally do anything they .cEidered wrong. --Tj»lKPi| 'The Chairman: It seems to have beeiiv case of corruption. . -7^" ■■ Mrs. Nicol then mentioned names. 'fh- 1 tmumg, witness alluded to two men emfioSlli as canvassers who = wero not electors. "£y ' ' .SSf-? I***.-1***.-'application to be Placed owhe , ion, but were not electors at the time ¥»■ mentioned the fact to Mr. Wilson, nmffi g M wor, employed by the/Tramway' Com av ' «nroi?^? d per hundred namesKy ' -SS# ■ *u Sh ? bought it would have & s wise for:the i -town, ; to inquire offi ' canvasser if he were an elector: TherK So^ er hi r " enlar / tjr •' that came?undeiherM ffiSLf^S" 11 * reference to /roll-stufflng.She ■ ".' thought it was not right that hotel pAWs te^ a ?u d domestic/;servants'shouf be included m the applications to be put S, • P, nes » cll Paper sa o took io Mr. W^n who said, " That is roll-staffing." ■I^i£s° ,, ¥ B y:^*.not- i uesirfanyonl lcfe 9 ' h« S- wa . s J not fully ; cntitledlo be,- and > dnioonntenanced roll-stnffine. ". & employee, of■; the company she called £ Wilson a attention.to the matter. Mrs Kili ' went on to mention a case in ; which a a hot. keeper;permitted the /porters/aaddomedolii fnrl be ■' nclEd& d hi an applicant form.,;.: The names were given ■to a canvasß « who was not on the roll, and another jLX ' fuhsesfwntly went down to witness them* ;i.lTho Chairman.; That "s to-say toputhia name to « the application forms. Ho hadtot ; really witnessed the signatures. "^|? ;t Witness eaad she understood this was Hie i% case,. . •-"• «~p«> w^\ f LF'Y^ : South Ward wa« the fay, - ■S™-* 11 * 1 aid not come under her attenffiiJ take this. ,-Mr.;Leydon' a-cted in ' this wid He put 709 or 800 names on the roll. 1 ,JrV», Glover -Pointedy out r that Mr:-iLeydU'lfil was the representative; of Mr. Julian as well . pany lDS m em » lo y of - to* Tramway Cott-] +w ply w Dr - ■•Shaman, Mrs. Nicol stated ttiat she was employed solely by the Traa-i I way Company. - f , . . ' i^r,w^£U^-lic^ ardson TO evidence rl; I garding tho difficulty of recording vote* u W the various booths. He visited several bootS ' owl y A ln ,%° da At the office 3of the Oharlj.' f able Aid Board the poll for Mayor was tak« man • ante-chamber about Bft > by. sft or 6fi >S^ifS*'' ?Mil constantly blocked, with tlb result that people who -were'inside were ail. 1 able to j get out whilst people who wera bat- ' ; side .. were suable to * get in. . Hundreds /-ifeaWS away without voting, it was obviously a - i ■■PiW""* 10 , ll Sf! 1 ? po , ll m sucfa a Place. %At the Central Mission Hall polling took Jpl&W in a- small, narrow entrances-just an alley, way—and not ; a;room at all lin the ■> projer « ; sense ■ -the word. .There A were capaoioßs S rooms that could have been used. Partj- li tioned off, as they might easily have ■ bedi. ' these rooms - would have servad admirably' ■?•-- At St. .Benedict's ; Hall;, the people were simply i j 1 wedged together, and .hundreds- had to leaw : without registering their votes." ~T o Mr. T. TJssher:. The reason he entered/"V the small room serving ;as a polling-booth iri ' High-street, of. which ;he , had .made mention; • was * that there were singula-!" character! i there. '•'.-•: '' : '-*o'' -f;'.- ; ""-/v'*v^v,/;';-'..: ,: .; >'.;/; v : {'i : .-■::'"'■;-,; ; ;ir^.-T^;^ .. -Mr. TJssher (pointing: to a person seated near him): Do you call this man a singular II character? - - , . : ,■ • ..; Mr. Kichardson: The behaviour of the men " , of whom I am .speaking: was peculiar, to' say M the least: of it. i.-:,;; Continuing, Mr. Kichardsoa - 1 said in consequence of information he received from one of his supporters he went I ;inside the/ booth, and i found an -atmosphere II which was "simply .toratal", owing .to tk* clouds of ;,tobacco;; smoke issuing from th« mouths of the officials. Ladies were present, but this ; fact ■ did not i appear to disconcert M the smokers, v; He oomplained to them : about their conduct, but thev only laughed. -• ' 1 '--' To Dr. Sharman: His scrutineer,"although . ; properly appointed, was objected to. They -jeered; at him, and for some hours prevented I him from -taking his, proper position. : ■■' Mr. Richard Hoars alluded to the meagre- ' ness pollhig Arrangements at St. ; James ; Hall. There • were ■; insufficient poll clerks, and.the ante-room was too small. 'A ■■' son of witness, named John Hoare.' had been , in Christchurch for three years, nevertheless his name.still appeared on the roll. An ap- ■ - plication for its removal had not been at* ' s tended to. Mr. Wilson stated that the John Hoar? hi ■ question did net vote at the last election. v and the chairman remarked that there had certainly - been no abuse in connection with this matter, but it was singular that th» name had been left on. so long. , s Mr. W. A. Smith, an elector in the Grafton ; Ward, referred to difficulties in ccnnectlon > with the-polling at St. Benedict's. .The room was crowded. He could not help sec-ing how other persons voted, arid others could, if they : . chose, ec© how he voted. ■ Mr. M. Casey mentioned/ a matter of hearsay evidence Which he said would be worth ' " telling, but this was disallowed. Continu- . ing, Mr. Casey / stated i that /.he; had made a house-to-house canvass of certain streets— notably Union and Wellington Streets—and" failed to fled many persons whose name!*. = were on the roll. Mr. Glover challenged Mr. Casey to mention the names of persons on the roll who «' could not be found in the streets he named. Mr.,Casey further objected to tha system of counting, and'mentioned that a scrutineer j| had informed him he had not taken the oath.' tMr. Glover: Why, I saw the man take the oath! ■ 'Evidence in regard to the ;icwnr i nod%tioii ■'•• V ;at the ■ booths and incidental,. matters wns, given by Messrs:, H. Wollans Gentles.. ; and Kg E. Huddlestone. deputy retiming officers |i . respectively at the Central Mission, High- '' street, and St. Benedict's. , "=i •The inquiry was adjourned until Wednes- jj|l day, at seven p.m. i.j' ■\v.. : ;/--'v-:;/:-1,' : '-^^^