The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, SEPT. 18, 1906,

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1863, 18 September 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, SEPT. 18, 1906,

| The Napier Telegraph has raised a question of the utmost importance in connection with the ballot system which demands the most searching enquiry. The matter cannot be per-> mitted to rest as it is at present, notwithstanding the assurances of the Government that there is nothing amiss; but whether there is or not the : facts point to at least a well-grounded l suspicion that tho secrecy of the ballot is not absolutely inviolate, and that i s a condition of things that cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed by those whose duty it is to see that there is no possibility of anything occurring that would give any clue to the way in which votes are cast by one or more voters. The position is this. On September 4th the “ Telegraph ” pub-> lished the information that tho edito

had in his possession a soalod and aip>no t wrapper which had ouco oif closed a parcel of used ballot papers cast in tho Bailor electorate, which the paper rightly says “ought to bo in tho custody of the Clerk of the House awaiting destruction by fire on 7th December next.” Tho Minister in oiiargo of tho Department was interrogated oil tho mattor by tho momber for Wellington Oontral, and on Wednesday lust l’opliod as follows : “ Tho 1 wruppor is nothing rnoro than a used

onvolopo from tho returning ellic.ir’s waste papor basket, which the writer

of tho article hi tho Napier* Aiily Telegraph’ has confounded with the wrappor of the parcel of used ballot papers of the whole electorate, which ; tho returning officer forwarded to 1 tho Clerk of tho House of Repre--1 sentativos as directed by section 1415 ‘of the Electoral Act. It has evi- * doutly not boon observed by tbe

‘ honorable momber that tlie Electora ‘ Act of last year altered the procedure ‘ of dealing with the ballot papors, ‘ and placed tho onus of counting the * ballot papers and tho votes upon tho 1 returning officer instead of accepting ‘ the results from the deputies as 4 formerly.” If the wrapper were nothing more than “ a used envelope from tho returning officer’s wasto paper basket,” as stated by tho Minister, tho matter might well be allowed to drop into forgotfulnoss; but the 1 1'elogrnph’ completely upsets tho Minister’s statomont by quoting tho official label on tho wrapper, which reads thus : 11 This parcel contains the voting 4 papers which have been used in 1 voting for tho local option poll at the 4 booth at which I presided at Caples‘ton polling place, in the licensing ‘ district of Buller, on the 6th day of 4 December, 1905. James Greove, 4 deputy returning officer ; Francis 4 llogers, Charles McArthur, scruti--4 noers.” It is perfectly clear, therefore, that the wrapper in question is not what the Minister says it is, and it is equally clear that the Minister’s answer was given in ignorance of the fact as to whether it was a wrapper, an envelope, or a bit of waste paper, for according to the 44 Telegraph ” no one whose duty it was to inform the Minister had seen the wrapper in question, though it could have been obtained for the asking, nor was it a6kea for. As a sample of the character of information given by Ministers in the House perhaps this is not unique, for we have known similar evasions before, and it is abundantly clear that the answer given is not the true one. The wrapper is what it purports to be, that is, the covering of the ballot papors used at tho Capleston polling booth at the 1905 local option poll, and it is sufficiently attested by tho signatures of tho deputy returning officer and two scrutineers. It is abundantly clear, also, that according to the law as it stands, and as it stood then, that this stray wrapper should now be in the possession of the Clerk of the House in Wellington with the ballot papers which it once contained. How it got separated from its contents and found its way to Wanganui and thence to Napier is quite mysterious enough to cause the closest enquiry to be made concerning the whole matter. Section 130 of the Electoral Act pro» vides that every deputy returning officer shall, after ascertaining the number of votes cast, make up the papers into separate parcels, that is, the used ballot papers in one parcel, the unused papers in another, and so on, and 44 Each such parcel shall be 4 sealed by the deputy returning officer 4 with his own seal, and by such 4 scrutineers present as desire to affix •’ their seals, and shall be endorsed by 4 the deputy returning officer with a ‘ description of the contents thereof, 4 the name of the district, the name of 4 the place of polling, and the date of 4 the polling.” The deputy is then enjoined 44 with all possible despatch 4 to deliver all the separate parcels 4 aforesaid to the returning officer.” All this appears to have been properly done by the deputy at Capleston, so that this wrapper most probably reached the returning officer with its contents, Then Section 143 lays down tho course which the returning officer must follow. After scrutiny he is to enclose 44 all tho parcels transmitted ! to him as aforesaid by the several deputy returning officers, as also those made up and sealed by himself ” and 44 forthwith forward the said packets to the Clerk of the House of Bepresentatives.” The Clerk at once is to give receipts for such parcels, and then the parcels are kspt 44 for one year unopened,” unless ordered by the Court to be opened, and are then to be burned in the presence of the Clerk. It is not much use suggesting, as the Minister has done by way of explanation, that the procedure has been

altered, for it is the altered procedure which makes the wrapper a legal part

of the parcel which must be forwarded intact, except votes disallowed by

scrutiny, to the Clerk of the House,

There may be in the whole proceedings no violation of secrecy; but it looks ugly, and betrays carelessness somewhere, and the evasive inaccuracy of the Minister’s “ explanation ” only tends to make it look uglier still. | Before the feeling of insecurity in regard to the secrecy of the ballot can be set at rest there must be a full and complete enquiry, and a feasible and truthful explanation must be forthcoming. It must also be shown that the parcel of used voting papers from Capleston are now and have been all along in their proper place untampered with. -•