FRANCHISE QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19459, 15 October 1926, Page 14

FRANCHISE QUESTION.

TAKAPUNA TRAMWAY POLL. THE RIGHTS OF RESIDENTS. PROBLEM FOR SUPREME COURT. A grave doubt has arisen as to which sections of the inhabitants of Takapuna are entitled to vote at the poll to be taken next Friday under the Tramways Act upon the proposal of the Borough Council to purchase the local tramway. Originally it was assumed thai, as laid down in the Tramways Act, only ratepayers (and their wives or husbands) would have a voice in the mattter. On comparison, however, with later amendments of the law contained in the Municipal Corporations Act and the Local Elections and Polls Act, it is found the position is so uncertain that definiteness can be arrived at only by invoking an interpretation from the Supreme Court. Accordingly, the Borough Council itself has taken in hand the mattter of obtaining a solution of the problem. An originating summons has been obtained from Mr. Justice Herdman by the borough solicitor, Mr. F. Lowrie, calling upon the interested parties to attend by counsel before him and argue the question. The summons is directed to the Takapuna Tramways and Ferry Company and the Ratepayers' Associations of Takapuna, Milford and Bayswater. The points which it raises are whether the persons entitled to vote, arc merely ratepayers and their wives, or also those persons who hold the residential and occupiers' franohises. The argument will he brought before His Honor for decision at 2.30 this afternoon. It is clearly understood that the uncertainty applies only to the preliminary poll "on the question of the exercise of the purchase option. In the event of that proposal being carried, there will require lo be a second poll on the qi estion of raising the necessary loan to give effect to the purchase. In that case, it is not. questioned that ratepayers alone have a voice in the decision. The doubt raised some days ago at a Takapuna meeting whether ratepayers' wives or husbands are also entitled to vote at either poll does not seem now to be seriously persisted in.