REPOBT OF THE MOTUEKA ELECTION COMMITTEE.

43

H.—No. 14

Mr. J. Sagan

11th Sept., 1871

The land is yours, subject to your mother's life interest ?—Yes. The 300 acres ?—Yes, between mo and my brother. By the Chairman: If you voted on those two occasions, believing you had a right to vote, ' what made you think you had no right on the last occasion ? —I had been told that the name was struck off. Was that the reason you thought you had no right to vote ?—Yes. By Mr. Travers : Until then, did you believe that you had a right to vote ?—Yes. I believe, when you heard that the name was not struck off, you still thought you had a right ? —Yes. By the Chairman : You say you thought it was your father's name that was on the roll ?—I knew that it was my father's name. You knew it was the same name ?—Yes. Did anybody tell you it was your father's name since, and that you had no right to vote ?—I do not remember. Who were the Returning Officers in the case of the Provincial Council election and the election for Superintendent ?—The Returning Officer was a man named Higgins, a schoolmaster. Did ho know you ?—Yes. Know you well? —Yes. Did he know your father ?—Yes. Did he make any objection to receiving your vote ?—No. Who was the Returning Officer on the other occasion ?—Higgins. On both occasions ?—Yes, I think so, as well as I remember. On these occasions he made no objection to your voting ? —No. He told me before the election for Superintendent that I had a right to vote. Higgins, the Returning Officer, told you that you could vote ?—Yes, he told me that I could vote. Was it after that you were told your name was struck off ? —For two elections I was told the name was struck off. Was it because of that you thought you were voting in the name of your father ? —I know I was voting in the name of my father. Did you believe, when you voted, that you had a right to vote iv respect of the property left to you by your father after your mother's death ? —Yes. Is that the same property mentioned here as the qualification ? —-Yes. Waimea West, 300 acres, section 112 ? —Yes. By Mr. Allan : Was the person who got you to vote at those two elections the same person who asked you to voto for Sir David Monro ? —Arnold and Higgins both came and asked me to vote. By Mr. Fitzherbert: Was that the same Higgins, the Returning Officer, who asked you to vote ? —Yes. It was before the election he asked me. By Mr. Allan : Before the election Higgins asked you to vote ?—That was for the Superintendent. Eor whom did you vote ? —I voted for the present Superintendent. Was Higgins trying to get votes for him ? —I think so. At that time, had you anything like whiskers, or were you as tall as you are now ?—I was nearly as tall as I am now-, but I had no whiskers. Had Higgins and Arnold known y-ou from your boyhood ? —Arnold did, but Higgins had not been in the district so long. When they first came to ask you for your vote, what did they say to you ?—I don't remember now, it is so long ago. Did you tell them that you had no vote ? —They told me how I could vote. Did they tell you that you could vote because your name, James Hagan, appeared on the list ?— Yes. Did they ask you whether that was your name or whether you had registered your vote ?—No, they did not. Was Arnold acquainted with your father ?—Yes. I would ask you, unless these men had come to you for your vote, would you have ever thought of going to vote ? —No. And you had never, at that time, made any application to have your name on the list ? —No. Don't you know that this objection, made in 1871, was, that your father was dead ; that the name ought not to be retained on the list ?—Yes. Do you know a Mr. Pitt, a solicitor, at Nelson ?—Yes. Was he acting as agent for Sir David Monro ?—I believe he was. The Chairman : Who was the Revising Officer in 1869-70 ? Mr. Travers: Mr. Council. By the Chairman : Was Mr. Connell acquainted with you ? —No. Mr. Bunny : Mr. Connell was in Auckland. Mr. Gillies: He came from Nelson to Auckland. By the Chairman : Did he know your father ? —I don't know. By Mr. Allan : Have you seen that paper (copy of a letter) ?—Yes, I have. Did you ask Mr. Pitt to defend the vote, or did he come to you first ?—Mr. Pitt came to me first. Did he ask you to defend the vote ? —He said he wanted me to give him authority to do so. Had you asked him before that to go and defend it for you ? —-iNo, I did not. Did you ever tell Mr. Pitt that you had put in an application to be registered, and that the application was allowed ?—No. Mr. Travers •• He gave Mr. Pitt authority generally to defend the vote.