ASSESSING COST OF RAGLAN PETITION

Chronicle (Levin), 17 July 1947, Page 2

ASSESSING COST OF RAGLAN PETITION

- Press Association

By Telegraph

WELLINGTON, July 16. ■ There has probably not been such a| thorough inquiry into an eleetion result in New Zealand previously, said the Chief Justice (Sir Humphrey O'Leary) when talking of the recent Raglan petition ease when the Eleetoral Court sat for the last time today to hear argument on costs. Sir Humphrey 0 'Learv said that niuch good would result from the case, and no doubt many points upon which the eleetors had innocently been mistaken would be clarified for the future. Mr. T. P. Cleary, maldng subniissions on behalf of the respondent (Mr. A. C. Baxter), who successfully defended' the petition, said the case was not one in which each party should be left to pay its ow.il costs, nor ,was it one in which the successful party had made unsuccessful eharges of eleetoral ' misdemeanour against the other partj^. There was, therefore, no reason why the Court should ask the respondent to pay any part of the petitioner 's costs. Mr. Cleary said that of the total of 265 objections by both parties the petitioner had suc?eeded with 87 and had failed with 73. The respondent had succeeded with 61 and had failed with 11. The res)?ondent.'s failures were thus only one-sixth of the total objections, and Mr. Cleary submitted that if the Court wished to apportion the costs it could do so on the basis that the respondent had failed with one-sixth of the total objections dealt with. Mr. Cleary asked the Court to ILn the costs on the party and the party basis with allowances for extra days of hearing and for extra counsel. He also asked for witnesses' expenses only in respect of cases in which Mr. Baxter 's objections succeeded. Apportionment of Costs Mr. W. J. Sim, K.C., for Mr. Hallyburton Johnstone, asked that the costs be apportioned on the basis of 87 successful objections by the petitioner as against 61 by the respondent. He also submitted that the petitioner had aeted in the public interest by ealling for an investigation of the validity of the voting, and that this faetor should be considered in iixing the costs. The Chief Justice said an allowanee would be made, but not to the point where the successful party might have to pay something to the petitioner who did not win his case. Mr. Sim said it had already been indicated that the eleetoral law would be revised as a result of what.was revealed in the Eaglan hearing. This was proof that the public interest had been served and the petitioner was entitled to eredit for that. The Court indicated. that its decision on costs together with its flnal judgment, running into about 60 tvpewritten pages, would be delivered within about a week.