DRAINAGE BOARD ELECTION.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2448, 9 February 1882, Page 3

DRAINAGE BOARD ELECTION.

The petition against the return of Dr. Henry Horsfori Prins as a mombar of the Drainago Board for the district of Christchuroh North-West was heard this afternoon before R. Beetham, E*q., R.M. The petition was signed by Messrs J. B!. Parker, O. H. N. Cook, J. Struthors Williams.

Mr Joynt appeared for the petitioners, and Mr G. Harpor for Dr. PHdb. Mr Harper said the facts were admitted, and it was merely a question of law. Mr Joynt said there was one fact which he thought his learned friend would not admit to the full extent. According to the 15th seel ion of the Ohriatohuroh Drainage Act, 1875, a candidate qualified for eleotion to the Drainage Board should be a person who had " during the year immediately preceding the the election been rated in respect of property situated within the district," which, ho contended, meant the North-west Ohristohuroh Drainago district. He proposed to call eviTidenoe on this point. Henry Murray, Assistant Town Olerk, was sworn and examined. He produced the roll for the North-west Distriot that was used at tho election and which was in force during the year immediately preceding, and deposed that the name of Dr. Prins was not on the roll. The election was for the purpose of filling a oasual or extraordinary vacancy. Mr Joynt said this was all tho evidenoe he proposed to call. In support of the petition he would rely on the 3rd eubseotion of the 50th clause of the Begulation of Local Elections Aot, 1876, and contended that the candidate was not capable of being elected to or of holding the effioo to whioh he was declared to be olscted. He was not so capable of boing elccLed, because he was not during the year immediately preceding the election rated in respect of property within the North-west Ghristehuroh Distriot Drainage District. He would admit that Dr. Prins was an elector for the North-east Dißtriot. A good deal would turn upon the interpretation of the word " district;." The second schedule of tho Act said " The several districts described in the schedule shall, for the purposes of this Aot, be deemed to be one district, and are hereinafter referred to as one distriot." If this were taken in its literal sense, wherever districts were mentioned they would be taken to refer to one district. This, of course, was absurd. For certain purposes only they were to be so deemed. The question was, whether for the purposes of this particular election they were to be regarded as meaning " the district ? " In all matters connected with the constitution of the Board the word ditriet was used as signifying a subdivision of the whole drainage distriot. In all the clauses referring to eleotion proceedings the word distriot was clearly used in its limited secse as applied to a sub-division. The Act stated that the chosen candidate must be chosen from the " electors of the district." Now there was no such person as an elector of the whole Ohristohuroh drainage district, and every person was an elector of some subdivision. The word " district " was used in a similar sonse in other sections of the Aot. It was evidently the intention of the Legislature that each member of the Board should be an elector of the district whioh he represented. In the case of Sydenham this was distinctly laid down, and it was stated thai the candidate must be on the burgess roll of the district. The Beturning Officer was guided solely by the roll for the NorthWest Ohristohurch distriot, on whioh Dr. Prins' name did not appear. His Worship asked if it were possible that the interests of the different drainage districts might clash ?

Mr Joynt said they might be differently rated, and some might want more money spent than others. Mr Harper would like to remark, in regard to the point of whether the interests of the different districts were identical, that if it was the intention of the Legislature, as contended by his learned friend, that there should be separate districts, and that no person could be eleoted who was not an elector of tho particular diatriot; that feature was peculiar to the constitution of the Drainage Board. Putting aside the interpretation of the different Acts in regard to the word " distriot," he contended that there was no general policy which could be applied to the Drainage Board to show that there should be a member elected for each sub-distriot who had a qualification within that district. There waß no reason why that should be so. In other Acts regulating the election of similar local bodies there was no such provision. With regard to the last point urged by his learned friend, he contended that the Beturning Officer bad nothing whatever to do with the question of whether or not Dr. Prins was qualified. In the case of Sydenham, quoted by the other side, the provision requiring the candidate to be upon the burgess roll only applied to the first election, after which the eleotions should take place under the provisions of the Christohurch District Drainage Act. Admitting that the Bating Aot and the Regulation of Eleotions Act contemplated under oertain circumstances the existence of Bub-districts with separate eleotoral machinery, he contended that olause 7 of the Christohurch Distriot Drainage Act, coupled with section 15, dearly indicated from whom the candidates were to be elected. Tlie first clause said, " In eaoh of the said several districts, the electors of suoh districts respectively shall eleot from the electors of the distriot." The words " eleotors of the distriot" wore perfectly plain, and pointed to the electors of eaoh of the separate subdistricts meeting and electing a member from the body of the electors of the whole district. His Worship said that was so, but the question was whether this construction was not qualified by the words of clause 2. Mr Harper submitted that there was no such qualification. He wished to urge one or two general principles. In the first place, he contended that his Worship had no power to alter the plain meaning of an Aot of Parliament, unless it was ambiguous or it was clear that something else was intended. There was no power to go beyond the Act itself to find out the intention of the Legislatnre. In support of this view he quoted from Maxwell " On the Construction of Statutes," p. 3, and cite 1 ! numerous cases. There was not sufficient ambiguity in the words, " electors of the distriot" to justify the Court in construing them to apply to a sub-district. Mr Joynt replied at length. His Worship, understanding that no public inconvenience would result from the delay, would defer his deoision until next Saturday week at eleven o'olock. THE SCOTCH BHEEP DO&. [" Illustrated Sydney News."] The large and increasing demand for shepherd dogs, especially the Sootch collie type, is due to their sterling and valuable qualities, which farmers and stock breeders are not slow to appreciate. It has been but a few years sinoe it was difficult to obtain a good pure bred specimen of tho collie, owing to the breeding being so mixed up, not meroly a mixture of the different types of shepherd dogs, but frequently a strong infusion of foreign blood. There are several well known breeders who now make a specialty of this breed, having done so for a number of years, and from them oan be obtained specimens of the collie in its purity. In Sootland much more oare haß been given to the breeding of the collie than hero, and breeders in Australia have not been slow to appreciate the fact by importing ohoioe animals, until now we can show as fine specimens as can the old country. While these dogs take to driving and handling stock as naturally as a person brought up to it, it must not bo supposed they can and will do the work exactly as one may wish it done without first being shown how, and overlooking this fact is what has caused most of the disappointment experienced by purchasers. No matter how well bred, how intelligent, or how naturally thoy may hunt, every one knowo that a young setter dog must be handled well—" broken" is the term used—before ho oan bo relied on to do his work satisfactorily, yet many of these same persons expect a collie to arrive one day and go out and drive and handle tho stock properly the next. In all reasonable things the collie will invariably give the groatest satisfaction, but, even whon they are well broken before they are ssot out, it requires some little time and attention to get them in working trim on your own 'place, for they must got acquainted with the stock and tho stook with them, else very unsatisfactory results will be sura to follow. In point of , sagacity and intelligence the Sootoh collie stands unrivalled, and not only are thsy i esteemed for their valuable herding qualities, but as house and watch dogs, ae well as pets, they mo in increasing demand,