TAU HENARE WINS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2401, 5 March 1915, Page 6

TAU HENARE WINS.

TAU HENARE INTERVIEWED,

ELECHON PETITION DISMISSED

RESPONDENT NOT CALLED UPON NO CASE TO ANSWER c . (By Tdofrraph.—Special Gorreaaoidflnt.) Whangarel, March 4. Tho election petition against the return of Tau Heuare for the Northern Maori seat was dismissed this afternoon by Mr. Justice Hosking and- Air. Justice Stringer, who comprised the ii C j lon '-' our t- The defence was not called upon, and the question of costs was adjourned. Mr. E. P. Prendergast appeared for the petitioners, Mr. J. R. Reed, K.C., with him Mr. C. F. Miller, for the respondent, and Mr. E. C. Blomfield for the Returning Officer. .-When the Court resumed this morning Mr. Prendergast called evidence in regard to Karakanui.

The Closed Booth. Wikiriwhi Hemama, of Karakanui, «aid he was the leading man among the Natives there. He had lived there for fifty years. His house was.the polling booth, but no poll was held. There was no deputy for the purpose! About 30 twuld-be voters arrived. Ho made inquiries and was advised' through the Post Office to go to Pouto to vote. Lhis was about 2.30 p.m., and it was not possible to reach Pouto in time. In consequence the 30 Natives were unable to record their votes. He had preI Hired a list of those in the ►•district *2 er tt 3' ears a 50i who numbered 60. He explained that three of these I 4 °. tlwr polling booths. At the 1911 election only nine persons voted at liarakanui because the majority of the people had gone to a wedding at Port Albert.

ToMr. Reed: He thought more went than stayed at. home. Of tho 30 who desired to vote the great majority favoured Hemi Te Paa. He did not know whom the remaining 53 supported. I'amihana Matu, of Karakanui, said no stopped four Natives from going to Karakanui because tho booth was not open. .

, To Mr. Reed: The four Natives were going eel fishing before voting. Mr. Reed showed that two of tho four were in the .original list of thirty. Heta \\ ikiriwihi, of Karakanui, stated that in 1911 about 28 Maoris, of Karakanui, went to Port Albert, and some of them voted there. a Further evidence in respect of To Horo was. then called, and Geo. Henry Woods, lioensed Native interpreter of Whangarei, said he had known the Te Horo district for eight years. His estimate of the number who would use ie Horo as a polling place (to which hecould not swear) was about 150. That Was. assuming that the Natives did not 1 go to Kawakawa. In 1911 the number who voted was 70, but some bush -workers were away. Ho had compiled a roll ror the Electoral Department ,in 1911. He thought the Natives voted in full strength,, with tho exception of thoso working in the bush. Mr. Reed; I think Te Horo was just about Tau Henare's stronghold?—He was very strong. polled a big majority in 1911 ?—

And he interested himself this time on Henare's behalf P—Yes. To Mr. Premlergast: Ho had no vote, out he,used his mfluence in favour of lau Henare.

The Opposition Organiser.. A Native clergyman, the Rev. William Keretene, of Kamo, informed tho Court that the le Horo population waß increasing. There were about'2o mora adults m 1914 than in 1911, as well as more children. About 100 adults of the le Horo Valley would find Te Horo the most convenient booth. ■ , Mr. Reed questioned the witness closely as to when he was asked to be a witness. Under cross-examination, iieretene admitted having been spokento by Mr. Dennehy, who had gone out ol the court-for a few minutes. He said he only - knew ten minutes prior to being called that he was to be a witness.- ■

Mr. Reed: You were approached by Mr. Dennehy outside and asked to be a witness?—" Yes." ,

_ Counsel strongly objected to the action of Mr. Dennehy, who was the organiser of a political party, and had been sitting with and instructing counsel in the case. .» Mr. Justice Stringer remarked that as long as Mr. Dennehy had not told the witness actually what evidence had been given it was not material;. His Honour asked which candidate had lost the most vote 3 by the nonopening of the Te Horo booth. Witness showed a great deal of hesitation, and then said he could,not say. Mr. Justice Hosking: I hardly like to ask you, with your oloth, but which would you have bet upon—Tau Henare? —"Yes." Mr. Reed: I think your wife is a niece of Nan Paraone?—"Yes." Mr. Prendergast: What religion are the people round about Te HoroP— "Mormons." Witness added that the Mormons were dying out owing to Kaka's influence. Now the members were about half and half. Nau Paraone was an elder, so would he not receive support on that account?—"l cannot 6ay." A Dreaming Witness. Wiremu Tairua, who was examined at great length yesterday, was recalled. Mr. Reed: In an untranslated answer to a certain question yesterday Tairua said that if he had the opportunity of sleeping and dreaming he could give some information in the morning. It was assumed that Tairua would consider the matter

Witness produced a list from memory containing the names of 77 Natives who had desired to vote. He had another list showing that 162 persons would find' Te Horo the most convenient voting place. Mr. Justice Stringer: Ask him whore he got the extra seven. There wore 70 yesterday. Witness: I think we omitted some of the names. It was sometimes 70 and sometimes 72, Mr. Justice Hosting: It is like the count of a returning officer. (Laughter.) Witness added that Hemi Te Paa, the candidate second on the list, did not have one supporter at Te Horo. He had no idea as to how many of tho 162 were at home en polling day. Mr. Prendergast said 1 that was all his evidence.

No Case to Answer. Mr. R-ecd submitted that there was no case for respondent to answer. The law oil 1 the subject was fairly clear. He quoted from the case Regina v. Teschemaker, in which it was held that a mere blunder or irregularity which was not expressly shown to have altered the result had in modern times been considered insufficient to justify interference by tho Court. He submitted that he was under no obligation to adduce evidence. There was no evidence upon which the Court could act to find that the irregularities complained of could have affected the result of thcelection. It was clear from the evidence for the petition that 'J'e Horo was Tali Henare's stronghold. The clergyman, a connection of Nan I'araone's, had said that it. had been-held that it was a failthing for the judges to take a proportion of the votos right through the eke* toraie, and distribute the unvoted baU

aiico in the same proportion. That would make Henare's position very strong indeed, but if every vote were given to the next candidate the result would not be atfeeted. Hemi Te I'aa had no support at all at Te Horo. llenaro and i'araone were the favourites, ana the dih'ereiico between them was 220. Mr. Ulomfield pointed out that outside tho 70 and 30 voters at Te Horo and Karakanm, no evidence was given of anyone having been deprived of their rotes. The Court should assume that those people whose whereabouts was not accounted for had voted. I' 1, Justice Stringer; We know some did, and there may have been others Mr. Blomlield urged that tho inference was that only rhose who attended were deprived of their votes. Not one witness was called from To Horo to say that they heard the booth was closed, ari l d accordingly stayed away. Air. Justice Hosking: Except possibly the.four who went for eels. Mr. Prendergast said that in a caso Jiise tho present it was extremely difficult to get evidence in support of the petition because those in whose knowledge the evidence lay were Natives, and because of the vast extent of the electorate.

Mr. Justice Hosking: That might be a good reason for not presenting the petition. . Mr. Prendergast • The fact that we applied tor an amendment alleging other irregularities. . shows that news filters through very slowly. The Natives don't anything like the same keen interest in politics a 6 the whites, and as a rule are reluctant to come to a court and give evidence. He submitted that the onus of proof was on respondent. Mr. Justice Stringer: We havo as-' sumed everything in your favour as to the way in which the vote would go. Mr. Prendergast submitted that it wa6 not for the Court to enter into a calculation as to the number of votes cast for any particular candidate, nor should the Court inquire as to the support given in any district, because it was largely a matter of speculation.' People were often promised larger support than they received. The Court should assume the possibility of the votes being cast against Henare and the election be voided. _ Mr. Justice Stringer: We should take into consideration not probabilities, but possibilities? Mr. Prendergast: It is a speculation as to which candidate is receiving the most support. Lean fairly ask the Court to assume that a number were prevented from going to the booth because of tho knowledge that it was not open ,

Mr. Justice Hosking: I should assume ' that if it were difficult to get the Maoris to take an interest ill the matter a large number did not care to go and vote. Mr. Prendergast: I admit that in regard to a certain number. ■ His Honour suggested that they' ri.°T ii. no J 1 paralysed at the news that the booth was not opened. Mr. Prendergast! Perhaps not. but some_ would hear that the booth' was closed and consequently would not attend. Mr. Justice Stringer: You have to get-nearly all, or at 1 least 120 out of a possible 150? * . Mr. Prendergast: I admit it is pretty heavy. If Tau Henare represented the majority ho need not be frightened of tacmg the electors again, ; but he did not put that forward as a reason for voiding the poll.

_ "Must Be Dismissed." ~ T'keir Honours' decision was given tins afternoon by Mr. Justice Hosking. Mo said they had considered the application that the petition should be dismissed on the grounds that sufficient evidence had .not been given to'establish the allegations in the petition. Not only so, but that the evidence itself was destructive of the petition. The ?w° n "' a J appeared to the Uurt on the evidence that the nonopening of the_ booths at To Horo and Karakanui the result of the election There was no obligation upon respondent to call evidence where J! I ®, evince for petitioners showed that what had been done could not affect the result. The, law was thus laid down in the Western Maori/case. Theresult in such a. case must be that the petition must be dismissed. In the present case it did not appear to their Honours that reasonable grounds were shown for believing that the result would have been different. On the contrary, the evidence afforded reasonable grounds for believing that the . result would not have been different. In the present case, Henare's majority over the next candidate' was 176, and over the third man 189. The highest estimate of the. Te Horo electorate was 200 but that included portions served. by railway. The evidence of the returning officer and Mr. Woods put it at 150. Even if the 162 votes referred to had been polled for Nau l'araone, he would have been unsuccessful, it would be unreasonable, in the face of the evidence as to the support Henare had, to believe that Paraone would have secured all the votes- if all .had voted. Paraone had no support at Karakanui. It had been assumed.that all the available voters would have come forward, but that was not the usual experience of polling. A consideration that weighed with the Judges, as it did with the Court in the Akaroa case, was that no witness had'been brought forward to say he was prevented from going to the CI by reason of information that the ths were not open. In the Western Maori case 75 per cent, of the possible voters was said to be a high percentage to poll. In this case it would require over 85 per cent, of the possible voters to have voted, without one vote being in favour of Henare, to have affected his election. In'view of the evidence as to the favour with which he was regarded at Te Horo, any such conclusion would be highly unreasonable. The petition must therefore be dismissed. The Court determined that Tau Henare was properly returned, and would so certify..

PLEASED WITH THE RESULT. ' (By Telegraph— Special Correspondent.) Whangarel, March 4. When approached this evening Mr. Tau Henare was in excellent humour. He expressed pleasure at the result, which he had anticipated. "I regret the expenso to tho country," he said, "and to the Natives who came so far to hear the proceedings. With one or two exceptions all the Maoris present were delighted with the decision." Tho lodging of tho petition, he said, had greatly interfered with the performance of his duties. 1 He had been 011 a tour of tho electorate to learn more of the needs and feelings of his people before the House met, but at Herekino _bo received a telegram informing him that tho petition had been lodged. Now that it was over, he would complete his tour. The new member prefcrrod not to state his political attitude in definite terms at present.