The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News. THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1875,

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1681, 8 July 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News.

THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1875,

Tor the oaoa* that lucks assistance, Tor the wrong that needs resiateaot^ •«r th* fiture In the distance, ■ A»i th* fMd that wi can «*.

The healthful influence of electioneering excitement on the community is beyond question, and among the sanatory agents at work for the good of the public health, we should give a high place to the annual meetings for the election of our little local parliaments. It is a noteworthy fact that among our districts health and belligerency go hand in hand. Which produces the other might be snbject of enquiry, or whether they mutually act and. re-act on one aliother. The Norih Shore used to be notoriously bellicose and notoriously healthy. It is quiet now, and the people take sickness as in other places. Ponsonby bears the belt at present for quarrelsomeness; and as the whole people there are on the warpath, the appearance of its denizens as they dismount off the 'buses of a morning, or walk down Queen-street to business, the ruddiness of complexion, and gallant bearing of the manly form, show unmistakeably the connection between mental excitement and bodily health. Whether it may be that an excess of free ozone on those lofty heights, as it was sometimes said of the same. chemical constituent at North Shore, conduces to both belligerent tendencies and physical health, we leave to scientific enquirers to ascertain ; but we venture these various hypotheses in the hope that they may receive] elucidation, if in no

other way, at the handa of young men's mutual improvement and discussion classes. Parnell last night was happily subjected to the healthful influence, and we anticipate a rapid decrease in the typhoid and diptheretic symptoms with which the place is vexed. We have not the impertinence to say that that place can at all rival Ponsonby, still it did very fairly last night, and gives augury of better thiDgs to come. The occasion of course was the election of a Highway Board, and the moving cause, proxies. Of course as on all similar occasions, both sides had plenty of these little troublers, and those who to their chagrin happened to have the fewest, aud in consequence got beaten, 'got up a scene of virtuous indignation. It is not our purpose to discuss the merits and demerits of the system of proxy voting; it seems reasonable that those property owners and ratepayers who happen by other business to be prevented from attending a meeting largely affecting their interests, should have the privilege of having those interests represented. In theory proxy voting is unimpeachable. The abuse of it is when by its exorbitant use the wishes of a district are swamped for party purposes. The existing Act provides against this, by clogging the proxy, in necessitating that it should be signed by the giver in presence of a Magistrate, and that no more than six proxy votes should be given by "one person, and him a ratepayer. With such restrictions no very great abuse can . occur, and when, as on last night, all parties had provided themselves with proxies, the objection raised by any to the use of proxies is rather out of place, and savours rather of chagrin that they should have been beaten by the superior use of their own weapons. A little skirmish over the appointment of Chairman was the prelude to the weightier business of the evening, and the formality of a show of hands, in which the crowd of non-ratepayers ■who had come to see the fun, took part, was followed by the polling. Scrutineers were appointed, the proxies were freely poured in by all without demur, save a little occasional chaffing banter, and the votes were totted up. When the chairman had stated the names of the five highest, and before he had formally declared the return, trouble began. Then objections were raised to the proxies' and while one moved the adjournment, Mr Kissling, solicitor, on the principle of nothing like lrather, urged law. It is needless to say that such was not the time for questioning the character of the proxies, but this, should have been done as each proxy was presented to the scrutineers. However the action taken had the effect intended, and the meeting got into a shite of fo«. Colonel Nation, who as magistrate had witnessed some signatures to proxies was invited to render an account ;" anrla resolution was urged that he should be called on by the meeting to say if the proxies had been properly filled up This he very properly resented as an impertinence, holding; that he was not responsible to a meeting of ratepayers for hiß actions done in virtue of holding Her Majesty's Commission of the Peace. Although the Colonel very properly declined such dictation, it is very well known that there was not a single proxy with his signature but was signed by the giver in his presence. With regard to some proxies held by voters, it appears that the name of the appointee or perßon authorised to use the proxy was not filled in at the time of signing, this being certainly not necessitated by the Act. However, the action of the defeated party had the effect of giving opportunity for the vent- of much virtuous indignation and bringing proceedings into a state of muddle. Mr. Kissling's resolution included the provision that the legal expenses of his proposed suit should he a first charge on the year's rates, a proposal which Mr. Kissling as a lawyer of course knew to be nonsense. The Chairman, Mr. Colman, whose position was a most trying one, and who conducted himself with great forbearance and a manifest desire to give every latitude to the expression of opinion, at length felt that the efforts of those retarding the business would only lead to nothing, and that as it was I ntimated that the vote for adjournment, and the vote for expressing the invalidity of the proxies, and the vote for going to law, and all the other votes proposed would be pressed to a poll, in which the proxy voting would rise up in limine, he declared the names elected, and suggested that any ratepayer, feeling aggrieved, should test the value of the proxies in legal proceedings. This was the proper and the only course that was possible in the circumstances ; and, if taken at first, would have saved a good deal of profitless discussion. But, as it is a fact which Mr Kissling doubtless knew very well, that, in order to invalidate the election, it would be necessary to show a sufficient number of bad votes to represent the difference in numbers between the votes recorded for the highest of the defeated, and the lowest of the selected candidates—some fifty votes—in order to affect even a single seat, we think the law will be left alone. So far as appears, there was not one invalid proxy vote recorded ; and the mere fact of a few not having the name of the appointee on the face at the time of signing is, of course, nothing in point of law. However, the whole meeting was very good tempered, and creditable to Parnell; and we hope the warmth evoked will have that hygienic and generally salutary effect on the people, which we hold to be intimately associated with the periodical ebullition of the belligerent propensities.