MR HALCOMBE DISQUALIFIED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 4, 5 September 1879, Page 2

MR HALCOMBE DISQUALIFIED.

■/■■.■■ ~^ ♦ ~- J § I, Our attention has been drawn to an appendix to the* Public Works Statement. It is a "Schedule of Sleeper contracts, current on July 1, 1878, 0. and cbntfi'aotis entered into during the ; financia^year ended June 30, 1879." Glancing over this we find the follow- •• Date of coritrjscfc or agreement— May 13, 1879. Contractor's name— A. F. Halcombo. No. of sleepers contracted fo" — 3000 totaruirRate per sleeper— 2s 9d. To be^Jßlivered at Tflrraee end siding. To >G completed on October 13,^& |J ---—._ ■ JJpoja-wstcling the above, we referred —--to " The Disqualification Act, 1878," and found clause 4 to read as follows: — \s . All oontraotors add Civil Servants are and shall be inoapable of beijig summoned to or of holding a seat in the Legislative Counoil, or of being eleote#as or of sitting or voting 98 a member of theHouaeof Representa- ; tives. • , " Contraotor "means a person who, either by ldmself, or directly or indirectly by or iwith olhors, but not Is n member of a joiufc stock company or any incorporated body,ia interested in tho execution or enjoyment of any, contract or agreement entered into with her Majesty, or wilh" any officer or depart- . menfc b! tho Q-oneral Goverumeut, or with any person or persons for or on account of tho public service of New Zealand, under which any public money above the sum of fifty pounds is payable directly or indirectly to suohperson in any one financial year. The question this -involves is A ua^ortant one. If. disqualified, MF Halcc^4.is simply^oping to be re-tiu-ned, aii|,hang on until October, when he-w'oul&^neet the constituents, arguing, that •^Josse^sion :w nine points of the lafi^ This would mean the disfranchispnent of the constituency during a^eat^part%F the ses-

j wo.j'n the electors of the dangor. .In j tho liicc of the facts wo have uioni tiojk'd, no votes should be wanted Hy I being given to him. "