TAUHENARE'S SEAT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2400, 4 March 1915, Page 7

TAUHENARE'S SEAT

TORTHERN MAORI PETITION

NEW: CHARGE DISALLOWED

PLIGHT OF A WITNESS fßy-" Telegraph.—CpecM CorpMixinaenW . . Whangarel, March 3. The Whangarei Courtroom was crowdted this morning when the hearing of the election, petition against the , return of Mr., Tan Henare for the Northern Maori constituency was begun before their Honours Mr. Justice Hosking and Mr. Justice Stringer. ... • *Mr., E. J. Prendergast appeared for the petitioners, "Nati Paraone Kairiti, of iWhangarei,. boardinghouso-keeper, and JMaera ..Kuao, of .Taut'oro,' Kaikohe, settler. Mr. E. C. Blomfield appeared for ihe returning officer (Mr. H. B. Hulme),' and' Mr. J. R; Reed, "E.(X," with him Mr. C. F. C. Miller, for the Respondent, Tau Henare. , / Mr.' Prendergast was given leave .'to . iwitbdraw allegations 4> 5, 6, and, 7, relating to the retention of voting papers; that, voting papers were not issued as Teqnired' by law; the presence of. Maoris in the booth, and that electors ■'did: not present voting papers as ,rejquired, -for the reason that no. voting papers were issued. • ~ ■ < -'■■ _, The question of advertising tho peti-' tion' in time' arose, and the failure of the petitioners in this regard was excused, Mr. Reed consenting.' . , Mr. Prendergast applied to add Motufcaraka to the places where <no booth Svas opened, this disenfranchising '■ a number of electors. He also desired to add a hew clause that a poll was taken at Pakotai, and the voteß taken there counted, but that Pakotai was not appointed a polling place, and that such poll was taken without authority, and the votes there taken should have been: disallowed. Mr. _ Prendergast adimitted. that the authorities were rather ■ against his ;request for the addition of Stem's, but it was somewhat in the nature of supplying particulars., Pakotai .was not a gazetted polling place,, but a deputy' should have been appointed to take'the poll at Te Horo. He toot it at Pakotai, which ivas eight or nine Iniles away, by practically an impassable tra<!k, The votes polled at Pakotai were 109. He submitted that the taking'of the poll was not authorised, arid these votes should. not' have been counted. '.

>' Mr. Justice Stringer: Even -if it does , aiot affect the election?, Mr.-Prendergast: I submit it does. •My. client is striving not so much for ' his own; benefit; but because ho supports a certain party, and it does not matter whether he or someone else gets the seat. It would-affect the next-candi-date on the list. Mr. Reed opposed the application. •It was only on Saturday, he said, that .he notice of the proposed ad-. I tiition, and inquiry was difficult in • order to see ,if the people had been prejudiced. ; He had lookea up the 1911 election figures, which showed that at Motukaraka 6D votes were cast, and at Rawene, just across the river, ,27." -In 3914n0,0ne-voted at Motukaraka, while .95 voted at Rawene. ,He .' would be at a disadvantage without the : white . schoolmaster at Motukaraka, and . the ' deputy returning officer for definite evidence as to whether a number of Natives were prevented from crossing the river. He understood there were hundreds of launches on the,, river, and many Natives owned their . own launches. . . ... \•: Mr.. Justice Hosking: We don't think it comes' under Clause 8. . < Mr. Reed: If so, we will need an adjournment, as we are not prepared to . .Jight it on those grounds. i • Mr. Justice Hosking: The; other side "will have to pay the oosts. 'It was t agreed to avoid references to, Clause _ 8 in the -meantime; • suid- the Judges'; said would look into the authorities in regard to both points and give their decision, in the' afternoon. . '

• ■-V\ Tha Vital Clause Mr. Prendergast said lie relied on' Clause 3,! stating that pursuant to Section 185 (G) of the Legislature Act, the following places, inter alia, were appointed to be polling places, namely, Te Horo and Karakanui, but in neither: a case .was a booth, opened. , He would .prove that, a large number of; Natives . were from voting at Te Horo ;• and Karakanui. The Natives /were residents, of those places or the surround-' ing country. To Horo was the centre of & fairly thickly populated valleynear Kawakawa, and tad a meeting-house, an eating-house, a church, a store, and dwellings. .Karakanoi was a village on a iiyer near Kaipara Harbour. ' • - Mr. Blomfield: I dispute the staters went that it is a village. It is less than:,a .village. It does not appear on any county map. , ' ■ Continuing, Mr. Prendergast Baid the - Natives-made strenuous efforts to get somebody to open the poll, but without success. They .were disfranchised. He hoped to satisfy the Court 'that -the comber prevented from voting was such as might have affected the result. Under Section 179, the onus of proof would be oil respondent to satisfy the Court tbat the irregularities which would be proved did not affect the result of the election. Tau Henare's majority was ' 176 over the second candidate, and he polled one-flftK of the total votes cast, which 'were 3922 as against 3965 in 1911. 1 " Returning Officer's Difficulty.

Hedley Russell Hulmo, of Maraeroa,. Returning Officer for the Northern Maori district, said that Pakotai was not a gazetted polling'place. Mr. Blomfield: Why was no poll. 1 taken at Karakanui? - - ■ Witness: Being such a small placo I tad difficulty in locating it. It does not appear, on any map to my knowledge, and I searched the postal guide and ■ the provincial directory without finding any reference to it. Mr. Grace, the former Returning Officer, gave him the address of Mr. Wilfred Stokes, Deputy' a.t Karakanui, with the location of the place. He sent voting and other papers to the Deputy-Returning Officer in the care of the nearest postmaster, but received no reply from Mr. Stokes. !Affe receiving a telegram from the postmaster he concluded that Mr.Stokes had received the documents Subsequently he received a letter from the .postmaster regretting he had unwittingly led'witness astray. He considered ho had done all possible to have the poll opened. At. the 1911 election Karakanui polled nine 'votes. . No poll was taken at Te Hpro.

Mr. Heed: Is Tau Henare's district Te Hero?—" Yes." . Do you know tie candidate's spheres of influence?—"Of some of them." ■ Mr. Prendergast objected to this evidence. It was not open voting as argued by Mt. Reed. He urged that as there was a declaration of secrecy, and the Natives came in singly, only the Deputy and Ms associate knew how the Maoris voted. His Hononr held that the question would not infringe any secrecy and- the evidence woald-beof value as it would assist the Court in gauging the effect of closed booths, Witness, by reference to the returns, said that Te Wake received most support on the Hokianga River, including Motiikaraka andßawene. His sphere of influence would not include Tenoro or Karakanni, Tau Henare's sphere was in the Kawakawa end of the Bay of Islands county. His vote wa3 very large there. That sphere included'Te' Horo, he understood. He did not place Pakotai within Tau Henare's sphere. Proposed Amendment Disallowed. When the Court resumed this aftarv

noon Mr. Justice Hoskiug announced that h« thought the New Zealand Act had the words: "That no other ground shall be inquired into." That seemed to the Court to render decisions under the English Act inapplicable. The .words, quoted seemed to govern tho-.' power of amendment which the; Court might have. No amendment could be made which ' had the effect of introducing new grounds and it appeared to the judges that the grounds which were sought to be introduced were new grounds. Therefore the amendments should not be allowed. The Court was prohibited from inquiring into other grounds than those alleged in the petition. Justice Stringer agreed. He said the petitioner practically oonceded the whole . point when he virtually admitted that he could not bring the amendment within Clause 3, which was tho clause. under which the amendment should be made, if it could be made because it was a specific allegation that certain booths were not opened.. It was claimed to bring the matter by a 6ide wind under Clause 8, which was directed to quite another question. The case was oompletely oovered by the decision of Mr. Justice Williams in the Patea election matter. ;

Mr. Prendergast: My evidence will be limited to Te Horo and Harakanui. Constable J. H. Armstrong, of Hikurangi, said Te Horo waa in Eis district. It was the centre of a valley which, with Pipiwai, included about 150 adult Maoris. ' . - Wiremu Tairua, storekeeper, of Te Horo, estimated the adult population intie whole district at over 200. Seventy went to Te Horo to record their votes on December 11. Mr. Reed stated that the figure given was correct. • Mr. Prendergast: Although only 70 people put in an appearance, the news that there was no booth would be • circulated amongst the Maoris. Mr. Reed: Lxactly that number voted in 1911. v fitness said one man came from Motutau to vote, and he and his friends wade efforts to obtain a deputy-return-ing officer. . Mr. Reed: You told everyone you were going to vote for Nau Paraone?— l.es. • ■ J)id the Natives speak freely aa to whom they were going to vote for?— "Some did." Could you tell how various Maoris were going to vote?—" Yes." Concerning a Document.,

Are you aware that someone hae been up in your district and invited the seventy pereons who were present to etate for whom they, were going to vote ? —"Yes.".:; . • Mr. Reed commenced, to quote from a document, but Mr. Prendergast complained on the score of. irrelevancy. Mr. Prendergast : ' .Somebody representing the 1 successful candidate went up and delivered , a few, speeches and endeavoured to get the people there to eay they would ■vote for- a particular candidate. Mr. Justice Hoskiug suggested evidence on that point., • ■ Mr. Prendergast: The question is as to how many were disfranchised and. whether they might have voted for a particular candidate and thereby altera! the result.. .Th© Court decided-to hear the evidence. ' Mr. .Reed: You were invited to state for whom you intended to vote?—l signed a document saying ' I . was' prepared -to vote for Nau' Paraone.i , Witness said Tau Henare was born near and lived in the To Horo .Valley. .He did not know if amajority of those at the booth were going to vote for'Tau Henare. ! Mr. Reed: I want you to tell us the truth. , ' Witness hesitated for a long time. Mr. Justice Stringer reminded him that he had , told' that the Natives had been talking f as to who. they were .voting/ ■ Witness only replied: "I could not say-" ■■■ Mr. Reed': You are a Mormon, I think?—" Yes." - ■ ' Is it a part of the teaching to tell the truth in the witness box?— Yes." I ask you to remember that. • Further questions' were resultless. Witness said he did not know, that Kaka, a chieftain, reoeived 61 votes out of the 70 .votes at Te'Horo in 1911, nor did he know, he said,,if Kaka was the man 'who brought Tau Henare out. With the exception of five Maoris whose . names, were read out by Mr. Reed he ' could not mention any who were opposed to Tau~ Henare. ' :. •

Mr. Prendergast questioned witness at length in regard to the proceedings at a meeting which a remark from Mr. Reed showed to be a gathering of the Mormon Synod. Tan Henare dropped in and spoke on politics. The witness added that Nau Paraone was present. An Alleged Threat. ■ Mr. R-eed: Did not Nau Paraone say to Tan Henare that if he did not undertake to voto for the Opposition a petition would be presented against him?-— "No." Was anything said abotjt a petition?— "I heard something about a petition, but did not. know the facts of it.' Will you swear you do not remember Paraone's saying to Henare that a petition would be lodged if he did not. vote on the Opposition side?—"l did not hear-it all." ' That closed' Tairua's evidence, and he made for the door. • Awarua Toeke, 'a Maori woman, said the number of people in the district was over 200. ' Most of the people who signed the document were going to vote for Tau .Henare. The m'ajority of the people she heard talking at Te Horo on election day were in favour of Tau Henare. Tan Henare was under the mana of Kaka. • iHeta Rewiti, settler, said Te Foro was the centre of a,-large district. The number of people who would use Te Horo as their polling place was seventy. . ; Mr.' Prendergast' asked if any other than the 70 Natives would have voted had the booth been open. , •Witness said there were some, but he had no idea of the number. Any statement would be only guesswork. He had told his people he was going to vote for Nau Paraone, but changed his mind in favour of Tau Henare. In his opinion, the majority were supporting] Henare. i

Geo. Clarke Walker, accountant, _ of Whangarei, where he has lived since 1874, said he knew the Te Horo district well. He was deputy returning officer at Te Horo for the 1908 election. The Maoris used to vote for Hone Heke. The Court , was adjourned until 10 sjh. to-morrow. _ j The case for the petitioners should be closed to-morrow, and that for the respondent will open. Tau Henare will enter the witness-box. The hearing will rpobably conclude on Friday.