TAUMARUNUI PETITION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2392, 23 February 1915, Page 6

TAUMARUNUI PETITION

OVER 100 WITNESSES v FOUR HUNDRED VOTES IN . QUESTION PETITIONER'S CASE OPENED (By Telegraph.—Special Reporter.) Te Kuiti, February 22. - There is a remarkable amount of interest in the Taumarunui election petition, tho hearing of which commenced here this morning. The town is crowded with people heje, specially for the case, and the capacity of the accommodation establishments is so ' overtaxed that beds are everywhere. The influx is from all parts of the Island. _ The Judges who are hearing the petition are their Honours Mr. Justice Cooper and Mr. Justice Chapman. . The petitioner, of course, is Mr. 0. K. Wilson, who contested the Taumarunui seat at the recent general election as the Government candidate He wa6 immediately prior to - the .election the sitting member* for the constituency, having defeated Mr. W. Jennings, the Wardist representative at the general election in- 1911. The contest at the 1914 poll was a keen one, and the official declaration gave the figures for tho candidates as follow:— , W. T. Jennings (Wardist) ... 4012 r C. K. Wilson (Government) 3806 F. W. Shortland (Indept.) ... 37 .Majority for Jennings ... 207 ;

In view of the possibility of there being a by-election, here, the result of the Expeditionary Force voting is worth noting. It was: Jennings, 136; Wilson, 95; majority for Jennings, 40. Counsel and an Army of Witnesses. Mr. Wilson has since petitioned against Mr. Jennings'6 return. At the hearing, Mr. A. H. Johnstone, of New Plymouth, and Mr. J. Staples, of Te Kuiti, are appearing as counsel in support of the petition, and Mr. G.; P. Finlay, of Te Kuiti, as counsel for the respondent. Among the witnesses who have been subpoenaed are: Mr. James Hislop, of Wellington, Chief Electoral Officer'; Mr. Hodgkinsi of Wellington, Deputy-Chief Electoral Officer Mr. "T. Buchanan, of Waitara, formerly Returning Offices: for the • electorate;' Mr; F. W. Schramm, of Te Kuiti,' the present Returning Officer, and . numerous settlers. Altogether 107 witnesses have been:/advised' to attend. Nearly- fifty of these have been called upon to come forward by Mr. Wilson's 6ide, and about sixty by Mr. Jennings's side. -For various reasons it is most unlikely that quite the complete army of witnesses requisitioned will be h§ard. .As the case proceeds, the necessity for calling everyone may disappear. Furthermore, some of. the witnesses seem to have vanished. However, it i 6 considered that the case, may last for a'week, and'there is not the slightest doubt that it is going tobe of exceptional interest.

Chief Ground for Petitioning. The maiu ground of the petition aeka for a scrutiny because it is alleged that 828 more votes were counted than there were voters checked off on the. marked .roll. Then the following, irregularities are alleged:— "At tho. polling booth at Mahirakau 18(5 votes were recorded. _ The polling booth was not opened until after halfpast nine o'clock on the 'day _of the election. No provision was made at the said booth for maintaining the'secrecy of the ballot. No compartments separate from and opening into "the booth • were provided for the use of' voters/ Large numbers of voters, were' admitted to the open booth together from time to time, and received and. marked their voting papers each in the full eight. and 'presence of the others." "At the Brixton pollinp booth one Crawford entered the booth and remained therein assisting the DeputyReturning Officer in the performance of his duties for a long time without any, authority of law." "The said ' Crawford* was a prominent supporter of the said William Thomas Jennings, and the petitioner believes and alleged that the. said Crawford was a member of the committed of, and an agent of the said William Thomas Jennings." "At the polling booth at Otorohanga 375 persons voted. For long periods of time" the said booth was crowded with persons, a very large number being present together and not engaged ill voting." ' . . ."On many occasions on December 10, 1914, and during the hours of polling, tho said William Thomas Jennings entered from time ,to time and remained for some time in one of the booths at To Kuiti."

"When the official count was proceeding the said William Thomas Jennings otttered and romained in the room whore such official count was being held by the Returning Officer."

Was Mr. Jennings Entitled to Stand?

"Prior to the issue of the writ and after the said William Thomas Jennings had publicly declared himself to be a candidate, an agent of the said William Thomas Jennings caused a large number of persons to be illegally placed on tho roll by issuing applications for-regis-tration filled in, and purporting to be attested, to be sent to such persons. In consequence thereof, such persons signed such application and transmitted the same to tho Registrar of Electors, and were entered upon the roll without, thoir applications having been duly attested as required.by law.. A number of persons who were registered pursuant to such applications were not ill fact entitled to bo registered as electors. It is alleged, moreover, .that thirty persons appear to have received ballot papers at two polling places. Ayf. jyr.vmn -who had 1 .voted ai the.

preceding election and -were still resident in the electorate, but whoso names did not appear on the roll, asked! to be allowed to make the prescribed declaration in order to vote, but were refused the right to do so. That tho names of other persons were illegally placed and illegally retained on tlie roll, including tho names of Maoris of full blood.

That William Thomas Jennings was ~ not entitled to be a candidate' at the election, because be ivas not duly registered as an elector, except in the Taumarunui electorate, and as Mr! Jennings Was _not a residont of Taumarunui his application to be registered as an elector of the Taumarunui electorate was void. • . Huge Electorate and Overworked Registrar. A considerable portion of the morning sitting was occupied with a statement. by Mr. Johnstone, counsel for the petitioner, outlining the petition. Mr. ■ Johnstone said that the petition waa taken under tlie provisionsof the Legislature Act, 1908. He mentioned that the electorate was very large, with very irregular boundaries.' The northern boundary Was an irregular line from' Kawhia Harbour to Lake Taupo, another boundary line ran irregularly from Taupo to near New Plymouth, and the western boundary was the Pacific Qoean. It .was obvious that the district was only sparsely settled. It happened that many public works are going on in the district, including the making of •roads ■ and one railway,- ana the men engaged on these works were for the most part nomadic, and communcations were very difficult, and a registrar, of electors or a returning officer had much to contend against. In such an electorate irregularities were inevitable, ■ and a careful scrutiny of the rolls. in the; time allowed was impossible. Then their term of residence was altered from three months to one month, and-fur-ther trouble was experienced on this ao--count. - The returning officer, who was thoroughly capable, had to do the work of clerk of the court, conduct the licen- . sing poll, attend to the notifications "'regarding the bringing of'.liquor into'the' district (which was dry), and all this in addition to his duties as registrar. It was not surprising, therefore, that the registrar broke down in- health. The officer, ■in fact, had not yet returned! - to work. There , were ninety-eight: booths; in the electorate, for every ona of which equipment had to be found, and all arrangemants made..

Dangerous Laxity and the Publlo Interest. The New Zealand Act reonired that no one could bo a candidate whose name had not first been placed on an electoral roll. Tho claim was the foundation of citizenship, and if any laxity, was permitted it would soon extend to a condition of things in which infants and' so pii had a voice' in the govern-, ment; of ; the country. Mr. Johnstone explained the system of handling voting papers,; and pointed out' that .the number marked on the roll as having voted should be identical with, the number of ballot papers, placed in the boxes. . However, it had been discovered that the 'ballot papers here exceeded the number of names marked off on the roll by over three hundred; Then there were thirty cases of apparent dual voting and thirty-six votes were recorded in respect of persons who, had obtained' absent voters' permits, whilst forty-six were marked!' off on the roll. Negligence might be the cause of these things, but there had been a serious error, and it lay within the power of the Court alone to ascertain as .definitely as possible what the csuse of the error was. Nearly four hundred votes wore in question, which was a greater number than ,Mr. Jennings's majority, and until a scrutiny''was granted it was impossible to say whether Mr. Jennings did or did not poll a majority; of lawful votes. : In the' course of a short dialogue between Bench and Bar, Mr. Justice Chapman remarked that no doubt opening the ballot papers would be a last Mr.'Johnstone: The public also have an 'interest, and that interest camrot be satisfied, that one candidate had a lawful majority, unless there is a scrutiny of the votes.

Was Mr. Jennings Eligible to Stand? Coming to the question of. Mr. Jennings's eligibility to go to the poll candidate, Mr. Johnstono said' that ho would call. evidence to show that Mr, Jennings was not properly on the Taumarunui roll and not on any otlier roll, and that therefore his candidature was not permissible. • Section 35 of the Act required an elector to be in tlio electorate for one month prior to tie election, before that'elector could ba. properly enrolled, and it;was oontended that Mr.- Jennings had not, really chang-, ed his -residence from - New Plymouth, "which was outside the Taumariuiui. electorate. _ - Mr. Justice Cooper: The Act, says, "who has resided iu the electoral , district for one month immediately preceding his registration on the roll of the district," not one month prior to theelection. ' ■' " ■; ■ ... , - ' Among the other allegations, continued 1 Mr, Jobnstone, would be one to the effect that Mr. Jennings had entered a'polling booth and threatened to tele-. Graph to Wellington if a certain man was not allowed to vote. It would ba eliown, too, that a Mr. Young, agent for Mr. Jennings,-made a practice of_ sign- , ing batches of enrolment claim forms in advance of the applicant, and yet as the attesting witness, a practice wlncii opened the door to fraud, and did away, with the solemnity of attesting. Ke■specting the Expeditionary Force votes,. Mr. Johnstone asked for the names andaddresses of the persons who voted,as for Taumarunui, in order to show that soldiers voted on this poll who were not. residents of the electorate. ._ Before con- ;. eluding,: Mr. Johnstone. said _ that, it might be contended that, Section 1(9 of the 1908' Act afforded an answer to.tha petition, as it said that;. an election should not be declared invalid if it poared to the Court that the election was conducted : in. accordance th© principles of tho Act, and did. not affect the result. ; • j Evidence was then proceeded to, ana the first witness was . , , ~ Edward William Kane, second clerlr assistant of the House of Representatives, who produced a tin trunk full an» a sack full of ballot papers.

Thirty Instances of Double voting.

James Hislop. chief electoral officef for New Zealand, was called, ho said that the writs ware endorsed on December 17, Mr. Finlay, counsel for tho- respondent, raised tho interesting and quite new point that the petitioner must fail bemuse the petition, had been, made a day late. . Mr Justice Cooper observed that the Act said the time given for presenting the petition was twenty-eight days after the declaration of the poll. Mr: Johnstone: That endorsement is not the. declaration we refer to. Tho result had to bo declared in the newspagers, and that was not done till De* » comber 18; . . • Mr. Justice Cooper: It will have to be a matter for argument as to what declaration means. Regarding the Expeditionary Force voting, Mr. Hislop said, in answer to Mr. Finlay, that as tho Defence Depart-, ment did not have the addresses of many of the soldiers, the apportionment of their vote 3 to >arious electorates had to be arrived at by tho return-, iug officer taking tho men's own statements as to what electorate they had resided in. Gilbert Graham HodgTTms, deputy chief electoral officer, deposed, that he had discovered thirty instances of double voting. The whole of these votes -' were allowed, and had counted as sixty , votes. Formal Expeditionary Force votes were dinllowod. ' 1 ,

Mr, Finlayt Was Mr. Jennings present at the official count, or tie scrutiny?; It is alleged, ho .was. .. ' ■: He w.wnofc. present ai-tho offiiaaL count and ha was not present •during my conduct of tho scrutiny. Mr. Johnstons: The scrutiny-had.pio-jeeeded some distance- before - .you. arrived? [Witness: Yes.: ■ Miv Joinings AskwPtff-Leavei tho Scrutiny., ! Froderick William. Schramm, Rccis- , trar of Electors, and Returning OffiIcer far Taumartrnui, stated; that the scrutiny commenced at 9.30 a.m. on December 14, and - Mr. Jennings appointed a, Mr. Walsh to he his scrutineer. Later Mr. Jemnings asked to itave Mr. T. Buchanan replace Mr. » ,\Walsk' Witness would not Sallow that, But agreed to telegraph to Wellington oil the question. Still later, : Mr. Jennings .went into tHio place where the scrutiny was being held and argued with -witness, on the subject. ' After tfeb Mr. Jennings again entered the roam and his presence was objected to 'by \Mr. • Oodhrane, a scrutineer.' Witness, then told Mr. Jennings. that~he would have to leave. -Witness knew Uames.B. Young, of To Kuiti, . whose office; was used by tihe Liberal organiser ■until dose on -the day of the poll; There (passed through witness's hands about twenty forms to' which Mr. Young's .name had-.been attached as the . attesting witness to the signature of 'the olecjtor,. bnfc which the .said elector had. not signed. All such claims should '{have been disallowed, but some ware actually sent back by. the Court office itjferks for lie eleotor 'to sign.* Altogether about 600 forms .attested by Mr. Young were BOTt in and ip the ease of 'many notices . sent out in connection with Mr, Young's claims on behalf of people said to -desire 'enrolment, , the Post Office reported - that • they oould ; mot \find the person mentioned in the aclaim. '.. .. v ■ Witness said i that' the marked oot>y, jof.the roll showed that Robert John '"William Young voted twice. Young Shad f'iaai- absent voter's permit also, find he voted on that as well. ' Witness did not know whether there , 'jwero two or threo votes used in the , ■ramn mentioned. | Hislop, rccaDed,.said that regarding.® ; atumber of claims for transfer from an- ! other district -fio Taumarumji several j .bid been traced, but twelve had not been < itcaoed.,-. '- ■ ■_■. ' j Godwin E. 'AugustasHooi, in charge , Hofthe unemployment branch of the We}- ; lington Labour Department, gave - evi- ( 'deoice regarding the number of men sent , from. Wellington to Okabukura in October too late' for .them to qualify be- j fore their claims were made for enrol- 1 1 jnent.;, -/ "\' :

Robert Worfay, engineer in tbe PuhEo JWoTks' Department at Okahukura, gave evidence' regarding men 6ent to . the: iworks inOctober. - He knew' no others >'of the same names except Reid. Gross-examined by Mr; Fihlay, he B&id the contractors employed up to two lirndred; men. It was hot known ofD--cially that the men were sent by the ! Department. They wore often puzzled ::T/ith the names. John. Mariner Harris, Maori clergyMan, said - that threo brothers, named sPontawera, more Maori than half-caste, were •on tbe roll. ■ : '<■ Gariel Elliott, agent, stated that 'two Maoris, and Henare Te iTaui ' were on the'roll. Arapa Taiki said he was put on tho roll by Young. Ho thought at first he was signing to go to the war. 'Young 'told him it was ti> vote. Witness exer-. teisod his vote ; ' • ; Tarue Ponui said he did not know Jrrhether he was more Maori than European. Witness signed a claim for enrolment, filled in by Young, and voted ■aii the election. ■ Bertram Anderson Beattie, Deputy Ototurning Officer at Tarunarnnuij'gave evidehoe that persons outside; the electorate. near Taumanmui were on the roll;, Sevan votes were affected. Tbe plan (produced) showed the Wanganui ißiver boundary, and the persons affectfed lived on. the other side, two on an island which was originally on . the other Side. ; '•