AN ELECTION PETITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16285, 19 July 1916, Page 4

AN ELECTION PETITION.

s "*" J DISMISSAL BY MAGISTRATE. 0 ■ y tux telegraph.— coe.eespovde.vt 1 a ROTORUA. Tuesday. s ROTORCA. Tuesday s A petition- against the return of Mr. s Walter Steele as a member of the Rotot raa County Council for the South Riding of the county, was heard by Mr. R. W. Dyer, S.M., at' the Rotoma Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon. The petitioners were Mr. John O'Brien, who was, a according to the returning officer's s declaration, a defeated candidate, and five e other electors. The petition was brought * under the Local Elections and Polls Act, a 1908, and claimed that the returning . officer had placed to the credit of Mr. f Steele two votes which should have been credited to the other candidates, Messrs. A. Jackson and J. O'Brien. The trouble had arisen over two papers, which the deputy returning officer at Mamaku con- » sidered might be informal, but which the - returning officer allowed. Mr. Hampton, a for the County Council, contended that C the wrong procedure had been adopted in 1 bringing the petition under the Local e Elections and Polls Act. The proper pron cedure would have been under the amend- > ing Act of 1913, under which the magistrate could have ordered a recount of the ™ votes and the voting papers could be examined. Mr. Carter, for the petitioner.-, ¥ agreed that the magistrate had power, II under sections 45 and 54 of the Local Elections Act, to order the package of voting papers to be opened. His Worship held that neither section covered the grounds of the petition, which was dis.f missed with costs £2 12s 6d against the - petitioner, O'Brien, whose deposit of £10, 8 however, was ordered to be returned to o him.