Education Board Election

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 108, 2 March 1893, Page 2

Education Board Election

[Wanganui Chronicle. j Owing to an unfortunate misapprehension of the provisions of the Statute, the nomination papers forwarded by two or three School Committees for the education Board election, to take place this month, have been rejected as invalid. The number of members to be elected is three, and some of the Committees very naturally thought that they were entitled to nominate as many candidates as there were vacancies to be filled. This, however, appears not to be the case. No committee can nominate more than two candidates, and the Education Board, at their meeting yesterday, acting upon the advice of their solicitor, rejected all sooh nomination papers as contained the names of more than two candidates. The result is to be regretted, inasmuoh as it is fatal to the candidature of the Rev. James Treadwell, and to that extent restricts the freedom of choice of the Committees. Each of the other candidates — Messrs Beckett, Bridge, Notman, and Pirani — was correctly nominated by at least one Committee. Mr Treadwell was nominated by the Wanganui Committee only, and that Committee, by mistake, nominated three candidates instead of two. In the past the Board have accepted nomination papers containing three names, being fortified in doing so by a legal opinion obtained in 1879 from the Board's then solicitor. But a protest having been received on Monday from Mr Pirani, one of the candidates, against receiving such nominations, the question was referred to the Board's present solicitor, who attended yesterday's meeting and advised that all nomination papers were invalid that contained more than two names. After discussing the matter at length the Board regretfully felt bound to abide by their solicitor's opinion, with the unfortunate result that the Rev. Mr Treadwell's name has been withdrawn from the list of those to be submitted to the Committees for election.