An Unfortunate Mistake.

Manawatu Herald, 11 September 1894, Page 2

An Unfortunate Mistake.

The Returning. .--Officer .for the Borough of Foxfon declared on Friday thai three persons were duly

elected Councillors for tlie Borough, though. four. noiiiiriatloils had been veceivetj: Tlio bo&tentioii o! the tietiirning Officer in declaring one nomination paper informal, is that the nomination of Mr Bradcock was informal inasmuch as, 911$ pf the iioiiiirJ&to'rs &aa riientioned in the body of the form as Edmund J. B. Osborne and that some person signed the paper as Edmund Osborne. With all d.u,e deference, to the Beturning Officer we .think he is mistaken in his action for the following reasons :— The _. Act regulating local elepti'piis, sets ©lit that tio person shall be deemed to be a candidate unless nominated in the form provided in the second schedule, and siffned by two electors and the candidate. Most of Bitr readers know the.forrh A-eferrejcl ttJJftrhiUti begins "We; A.B. and CD. being two qualified electors " and it ia evident that anybody can set out the namea A.B. and CD. would represent, in the main body bf the iioliitnation paper; which tnupt be sufficiently cleir sp that the Returning Officei can idehtify the narn^a, with, the nifties of two qvialiflea electors upon the electoral roll. On the discarded nomination paper this was all made so clear that the reason given by the Returning Officer for his action was that though he redogijiseji the faame pf the bomiHdtrir in' the Hod^ of the form as an elector, still the signature sit the bottom was not exactly the same, and he was thus in doubt as to whether the Edmund Osborne whose signature was written, was the same person as the Edmund J. B\ Osborne first mentioned, tfo our mind the Returning Officer has coil, fused the position of the information to be given him as the Act plainly states' it is to be sot out fully in the body of the paper and then (clause 11), signed by the two electors and the candidate. It is seldom that a person sigils his name as it appears upon ii vlUe-i-Hll ahtl if the Returning Officer is cori'ect, no one who does not do so, can be said to have accurately filled up a nomination paper. Edmund Osborne is the usual form df signature of the gentleman who delights in further Christian names and thi3 should have been known to the Returning Officer. The question has been raised by the Borough Official and should therefore be tested a3 a guide for future elections.