THE WAITEMATA ELECTION PETITION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4868, 6 February 1894, Page 3

THE WAITEMATA ELECTION PETITION.

♦ LPer Peess Association.] AUCKLAND, Feb. 5. Mrs Eliza Clements gave evidence. She said that she had voted at Henderson at the last election andaaw Mr Monk, jun , there. He spoke to her in the porch of the polling booth, and said, " I know you'll vote for the old man." She said to young Monk, "Me and my old man have lost a day." He said, " That will be all right," and gave her 2a 6d. To the beet of her knowledge ahe had not voted at this time. After voting:, young Monk went to the Henderson Hotel and stood any amount of drinks and cigars. Witness followed him to the hotel. When he went into the hotel he thought all bai voted for hia father and atood drinks all round several times; she could not say all who were there exactly, because " she lived on a gamfield and did not exactly mix with them." (Laughter). This was the first time that women had given votes and she could not enter exactly into the matter. (Renewed laughter). Witness was then examined to ascertain whether this was after polling or not. It might be afternoon or morning, she said, but "Well, it does not matter." A man called Marten, a butcher, also " shouted," she said. Mr Baume : Did you see young Monk after this ? Witness : Yes, he gave me 2s 3d more, as I was going away. What was that for? He said it was to drink the old man's health, for some day he would be like Billy Swanson, an honorable. (Laughter.) Young Monk said it would be a very bad thing to put in lawyer?, because they would betray ttieir own fathera and mothers, like Judas did our Saviour ; but that is not to be spoken of in Court. Did you keep all the 2s 3d that was given to you ? No ; I gave Is to a lady friend. I got a cigar, and she got a cigar, from young Monk for voting for his father. Mr Cooper s Have you any other name than Clements ? Witness: My name is Clements on this occasion. Is not your name Eliza Eice ? No, not on this occasion, your Ljrdship or your Worship, whichever it is. How nnny times have you been convicted ? I really "could not tell you, and 1 do not think it necessary to answer such a question. Mr Baume objected to Buch questions. They did not expect bribes to come from the highest and most respectable class. Mr Cooper said he intended to attack witness's character. To witness: Have you been convicted ninety-nine times of drunkenness, vagrancy and larceny ? Witness : That is nothing to do with this action. That was in the Lower Court, and the Lower Court haß nothing to do with the Supreme Court. It may be folly there and wisdom here. (Laughter.) Will you admit it? I will neither admit nor own. So it is correct that you have been convicted ninety-nine times ? I do not know, and neither keep book nor profess to keep an account. Have you ever been to Mount Eden ? I have been there a few times. Have you been in sixty-seven times for drunkenness, eighteen for vagrancy, once for "being an incorrigible woman, and the rest for larceny ? I tell you I don't know. How long have you been in the colony ? That is my business. lam not going to tell you, I'll tell his Lordehip if he asks me. The witness was instructed that she must answer Mr Cooper, and she replied that to the best of her knowledge she had been in the colony about eighteen years. Mr Cooper : During that time have you not spent more than seven years in gaol ? I could not tell you ; I don't keep a diary. (Laughter.) Were you not drunk all election day at Henderson ? Indeed, I was not. Witness was reminded by Mr Bauine that she said she had shown the 2s 6d which she said she received from Mr Monk, jun., to her husband. A long argument ensued as to the admiaaibility of this evidence, and the decision oa the point was allowed to stand over. Mr Button admitted that E. W. Monk worKed for and lived with hie father on thelatter's farm. John Clements, a gum-digger, said he lived at Stony Creek. He was at Henderson's on the day of the poll with his wife. After he had voted he saw Mr Monk jun. give his wife something, and. she told him it was 2a 6<J. They all went to the hotel and had some drinks given them for voting for Mr Monk. Mr Baume : Did you pay for the drinks ? Witness : Me pay for them ? Do you think I am mad, to pay for drink when I can get it for nothing ? George By an, employed at Henderson's Hotel, said on the day of the election he saw— - -E, W, Monk, jun., was called, but witness said that was not the man he had Seen. The previous witness, Clements.wag called in, and said that that wae tb.s Monk who had treated them. Ryan eatd he had seen the Monk he meant in the vestibule. He was teat to fetch him, and caused great amusement by bringing into Court E. W. Monk again. Continuing, witness said on the election day he saw tiro gum-diggers, whose names he did not know. Monk gave him 2s, telling him to " booze up those two men and get them to vote for the old man." The men refused to have any drink, and he spent the 2s himself. He first offered the money back to Monk, who refused to accept it. He deposed to Monk shouting generally. There was no secrecy abont it. Mr Justice Conolly: He shouted for a great many after they had voted ? Witness: Yea, and for all he knew, They may have voted the other way, ] cannot say anything about that. Sir James Prendergast (to Mr Baume) He says this treating was done openly and, if so, it would appear now to b< difficult to prove it by unexceptional evidence. As you have said, peopli who take bribes are not of a very higl character, but if tbia sort of thios takei place openly in the way mentioned, on< would expect to find that it could be provec by unexceptional evidence. Mr Baume : Ik has been a very difficult matter. We experienced it ourselves but I shall have to submit that until thii evidence is upset it must be accepted. Maria Drumraond, who lived neai Kumeu, said on the day of the election shi went with four or five others from the poll ing booth to the hotel. They saw young I Monk there, and be asked them to hay I a liquor. Mrs Clements asked him if h

waß going to stand a liquor, and he said " Certainly." He also said " All you young ladieshave acigar." They had no objection. Monk shouted two rounds for all hands j a fiiend of hiß stood another round. Toung Monk said, to her, " Do you know anyone who will vote for my father?" a Witness said she did, but if he crossed the line he might find some of )f the Smythes, whose real name, of course, y was Smith. (Laughter.) She Eaw Mr : Monk give Mrs Clementß 2s 3d. He afterwards asked witness if "the same chapß " were in the bar. She replied that they were, and he then gave her first Is and then another, to shout for them. To Mr Button, in cross-examination, witness admitted that she had been convicted of vagrancy and of drunkenness. Asked if she got a month for obscene language, she said it had nothing to do with the present case. She admitted being in gaol several times, but would not admit thirty-five times for drunkenness, and when asked if she had spent six years in Mount Eden Gaol at different times, said to counsel " God forgive you." Hyram Lyons, a gum-digger, deposed j to seeing joung Monk shouting for people at the hotel who had cried out that they 3 were for Monk. The case was adjourned till to-morrow, j and the Chief Justice intimated that the j Court would not sit after Friday. fc AUCKLAND, Feb. 6. At the Waitemata petition case to-day Elizabeth Kavanagh deposed that she was in the bar of the hotel the whole of the - day of the election. Monk, jun., paid for drinks for Hyram Lyons, James Donnelly, Eliza Clements, Maria Drummond and Sam Johnston several times. Koyane showed her two shillings, which he said young Monk gave him, and Maria Eliza • Clements showed her a ba'f-crown, which t she said young Monk gave her.