LICENSING BALLOT PAPERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3889, 25 September 1928, Page 28

LICENSING BALLOT PAPERS.

MR HOLLAND’S MISTAKE. AN UNFOUNDED ALLEGATION. 1 WELLINGTON, September 19. The charge made last week in the House of Representatives by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr H. E. Hollan'l) that three-issue licensing ballot papers for the coming polls had been printed, and that, therefore, the Prime Minister was guilty of insincerity in bringing'forward a two-issue Licensing Bill, fell to the ground in the face of the evidence tendered to the House to-night by the Minister-in-Charge of the Electoral "Department (Mr A. D. M’Leod). Mr Holland again confined most of his remarks, when the Licensing Bill was in committee, to the printing of some of the licensing ballot papers before the Bill had been, passed. He claimed that he had obtained his knowledge that papers had been printed through a process of deduction based on the amount of printing to be done, the time the work would require, and the approximate date of the election. Mr M'Leod said the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition were an imputation of dishonesty of intention on the part of the Prime Minister, and of his intention to mislead. Mr Holland: When did I mention the word dishonesty? The Minister: I know of no other gentleman who is more sensitive than Mr Holland. Mr Holland: Unless it is the Minister. The Minister: You do not hesitate for a moment to throw accusations at the Prime Minister and members on this side of the House. Mr Holland: Will you deny that the papers were printed? The Minister: I stated on Thursday that the Prime Minister knew nothing about it. He has no control over the Electoral Department, and he did not interfere. I should be the first man to resent any interference by the Prime Minister or anyone else with a department under my control. The responsibility, if there be a responsibility, rests with me, and with me alone. No three issue papers have been printed. The Minister said that on Thursday he had stated that the head of the Electoral Department was out of town, and that the only information he had been able to obtain was over the telephone. The chief electoral officer bad since returned, and that day had forwarded him a letter setting out tho correct position and proving that no three-issue ballot papers had been printed. The letter was as follows:— For your information in the event of this matter being referred to when the ' Licensing Bill is again before the House, I beg to state: 1. That the three-issue voting papers under the Licensing Amendment Act, 1918, have not yet been printed. They have, however, been set up and everything is in readiness to give the order to print in the event of there being no alteration in the existing licensing law. This is a precautionary measure the department is justified in taking. The cost of setting up the voting papers is practically nil. 2. The only voting papers printed as yet are those for the use of absentee voters from “no license ” districts. There are 12 “no license ” districts, and the department is required to provide for absentee voters at every polling booth throughout the Dominion. The number of polling booths is approximately 4500. It is to be noted that the papers mentioned as having been printed are not affected by the measure before the House. They contain two issues, namely, local restoration or the maintenance of local no license.