tHE Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, OCT. 11, 1878.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 222, 11 October 1878, Page 4

tHE Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, OCT. 11, 1878.

We recently had occasion to call attention to the informal proceeding's that had inadvertently been adopted in connection with the election of certain j local bodies. We pointed out that j according; to the interpretation clause of the Regulation of Local Elections Act the riding' of a county and the ward of a borough were declared " districts " for electoral purposes. Tt thus followed that in the election of representatives of ridings or wards all the forms of procedure that are applicable to a county or undivided borough are necessary to be followed. A returning officer has to he appointed for each riding 1 or ward by the local body. These officers require to made the statutory declaration before entering upon thte performance of their duties. The nominations require to be made at some place within the riding* or ward, and, in general, all the forms require to be gone through just as if the election we r e for represents fcives for the whole undivided jurisdiction of the local body. We admit the interpretation clause of the Act referred to appears at first sight to be somewhat ambiguous, and might easily mislead those unaccustomed to study the phraseology of Acts of Parliament. Those also who had conducted elections upon the principle in force prior to the passing of the Local Elections Act would not readily notice the change that had been effected, and it is therefore not surprising that numerous informal elections have taken place. So long as all parties are agreed this does not often lead to any serious consequences. But should exception be taken by anyone having the right to take exception, or should the illegally constituted local body find it necessary do go largely into the money market, it would then be found that either a reelection or a validation Act was necessary. We previously mentioned that high legal authorities in Dunedin had given their opinions upon the subject, and that these fully bore out the accuracy of our contention.; The County Council of Bruce/had their attention drawn to the question, arid deemed it advisable to' "Mr Haggitt's opinion ; therei6n;, : "''.;: That opinion was read at'laßt;'rra'e|e'ting,'of : .'.the Council, and fully,^cbrrpDoriites all we. have said upon the subject,: The opinion was as follows :-r-r-; r%;.s • '-. :■ •< '-'--• ■■•■■■' ■>■■'■ ■:- lam of opinion that ihereihust be i Ketura: ing Officer^ or .every riding of the' County! . ' ■'- "' '\ ; Section 6 of t *ih'e -ftegulationjof 'Local Elections' Acs 1876/ provides that there shall be a.Eeturn-,

ing Officer for every "district," and section 2 , defines district to include the riding of a county. i The word district is clearly used in that sense in section 11, where the. phrase "two electors of the district ?' occurs ; it is cleat that in the case of a riding this must mean two electors of the riding, as no elector whose name does not appear in the electors' roll of the riding can vote at the election of a .councillor for such riding. (Sections 40, 41, and other sections of the Conn ties A.cfc — definition of " elector," section 2 Local ! Elections Act,) . The word "district" is, in my opinion, used | in the same sense in section 10, and therefore the place for the nomination of candidates must 1 be within the riding, and one central place in I the County will not meet the requirements of the Act. The same person may be appointed Returning Officer for- two or more ridings if it is thought expedient, and such. Returning Officer may, if and. when necessary, appoint a substitute to a&fc-. for him at the election for any riding of which he is Returning Officer when he cannot himself fulfil the duties of his office. The Returning Officer can only appoint a deputy in a case where there is more than one booth in the riding in which he is liimself acting as Returning Officer. If he appoints a substitute in any riding, the substitute must appoint the deputies for the different polling-booths for that riding. It would not in my opinion be sufficient to appoint a Returning Officer for the whole dis--trict — that is to say, for the County. If one person only ia appointed Returning Officer foi two or more or all the ridings, his appointment should be specifically for each riding by name. . * — : . In another column we publish a letter signed "Enquirer" upon the subject of the stoppage of the mail service here during the flood. We have received a batch of communications of a similar nature upon the subject, but have selected that by " Enquirer " for publication because of its temperate; tone, and because it enters more fully into the puolic grievances than do any of the others. We think all parties, the public and post-office officials alike, , will agree that an inquiry is necessary, so that the cause of the failure may be made known, and also that if blame attaches to anyone it may be laid upon j the proper shoulders. We must, however, put our correspondent right upon one point. He seems to imagine that the blame lies in Balclutha,. and. that the township is so situated that a stoppage of the service must be a necessary ! consequence of a flood. Such is not i the case, as no matter how high the flood there would not exist the slightest j occasion for a detention of the mails j here for a quarter of an hour at any time during- either night or day. The river is always accessible, and the mails could be dropped down in a boat to the district road at the southern boundary of the town at any time with as great safety and despatch as 'they could be conveyed along the main road in a coach. The position or condition of Balclutba during the flood was not therefore the cause of the stoppage, whatever it may have been. This, however, renders the breakdown of. the service the more mysterious, and renders an inquiry the more urgent. We have no doubt the Chief Postmaster will at once institute such an inquiry, and so fay as the future is concerned, we are sure the public will confidently leave the matter in hid hands. _ « Everyone knows that a great amount or kindness and liberality have been shown by more fortunate neigh hours to those who have suffered so much through the recent flood. We dnresav that even yet the settlers upon the high grounds would only be too glad of an opportunity of effectively assisting those upon the Island and othei* flooded districts. The only way we can think of is this: Those whose operations have not been interrupted by the flood must now be pretty well advanced with their spring work. Surely the water must soon get off Inch Clutha, and if so, the settlers there might yet be in time to get in oats for winter feed. No time, however, is to be lost, and a few day's assistance from their neighbours would be of the greatest advantage. We are told that rape will grow very well, and with but litrle trouble or expense amongst silt. If sown now it would afford feed for stock in two months. A large quantity of turnips might also be sown, to be eaten of with sheep next winter, All is not lost yet. By keeping good heart and by adopting energetic measures, and with the assistance that we are sure would readily be extended, it is quite possible even yet to raise valuable crops this season. We have no doubt that efforts in the direction we have indicated will be made so soon as the ground is at all in a condition for being operated upon. ._ We have an explanation to make with reference to the last two issues of the Leader, many copies of which we believe have never reached their destination. We are aware that many of our readers at a distance are under the impression that we were prevented by the flood from publishing on the 27th ultimo and 4th instant. This, however, is a mistake, as, notwithstanding the difficulties with, whioh we and our staff 1 were surrounded, we published as usual on t,e days named, and also an extra of five colums on Tuesday last. Our', readers in the township and on both sides of the river—Hillend, Te Hbuka, etc. — -had their ; copies 'delivered 'as usual without any. difficulty ; but we were horrified to ..discover on Saturday last that the district and southern, mails had not ibeen sent from the. 24th Sep.-. tember, and" that -8111136 copies of our issues; of the ;27tK ailtimq . and .4tn inst. had been jke^ All rettrtms^ ing, , atid I w| v : at once.iJjßlegraphed to ■ held- qu ar'tersl /The* inaiisX3vere;,vthen v

r-r-Trnmmri.iimiii.il.— n-m^w. — -- - S day), so. that. our country readers be- i vond reach from here could not receive S copies oi Tuesday's extra. We under- 1 stand several parties have written to •■ the Chief Postmaster, Dunedin,. upon •'■ the subject, and no doubt a full enquiry K will take place. We can only in >he meantime assure our readers that the ■detention of their copies was- through no fault of ours, neither was it by any means a necessary result of the flood we have had here.