The Stout Election Petition Case.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 245, 21 February 1894, Page 2

The Stout Election Petition Case.

(per press association.*) Wellington, February 20. The argument in the Stout election petition case was continued in the Supremo Court throughout the after noon. Mr Jellicoe contended ttiat the leaving of the petition at the Returning Officer's house was a substituted service, and could not be aocepted as a personal service. He also argued that there could be no service if the person serving the process knew that it would not reach the person for whom it was intended, in time. It was the duty of the person serving the process to have found the Returning Officer. He also quoted several authorities to show that the Court had no power to extend the time of service of the process. He then proceeded to refer to the manner in which the petition had been drawn up, and asserted it had been prepared before the petitioners were actually discovered. The matter in the body of the petition was type- written, while the names of the petitioners were inserted in ink. Further, it was not until after 4.30 p.m. on the 29th December, the last day on which the petition could be legally lodged, that either the man was found or solicited to sign the document. The argument, which had not concluded when the Court rose for the day, is expected to occupy the whole of to-morrow.