NAPIER HARBOUR POLL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1768, 5 June 1913, Page 6

NAPIER HARBOUR POLL.

IMPORTANT POINT DECIDED.' ' (By .Tolesraph—l'ress Association.) Hastings, June 4. An important magisterial decision relating to tlio conduct of local elections was given to-day in the case of a petition to void the election of Eustace Lane as representative of- the Borough of Hastings on tlio Napier Harbour Board, on the grounds: (1) That Mr., Line was ineligible to stand, his name not being on the Hastings Borough electors' roll; (2) that the returning officer, in giving public notice as required by the Local -Elections Polls Aot, 1908, failed to appoint a day not seven days (exclusive of the day of election) beforo tho day for nomination of candidates. In dismissing the petition,- tho Magistrate (Mr. M'Carthy) held that the day of nomination was rightly fixed, and that Mr. Lane was eligible for a seat on the board in that his name was on the roll

used at the 1911 clcction, it being the '| roll that should have been used at the poll ■under review. Tho roll actually used was ! invalid in that it was not completed before April 1, tho time fixed for thocompletion of the roll under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908. Mr. M'Curth.v's decision concluded as follows: "What, then, is tho position as to tho election having been conducted under an invalid roll? No allegation to that effect js contained in the petition, and thero is no proof before mo as to any divergencies but one between tho two rolls. How then can I say that the use of tho invalid roll-has materially affected tho result of tho election? Mr. Lane polled 525 moro votes than the next highest candidate, and it is 'thought to upset his election by mere technicalities. The Courts will not lightly upset an election by reason of irregularities of electoral officers for which thef successful candidate and tho electors were in no way responsible, and at which neither lip nor they have, in any sense of tho "word, connived. In my opinion tho petition should bo dismissed, and it is dismissed accordingly, with costs against the petitioners."