OHINEMURI LICENSING PETITION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10059, 29 January 1909, Page 4

OHINEMURI LICENSING PETITION.

(Pkr I'bkss Association".) Waihi, January 28. The inquiry into the petition lodged against tlic validity of the Oliiitemuri licensing poll by the 80 electors has occupied the attention of a special Court consisting of Maistraies Burgess, Colonel Roberts, and Cullen since Monday last, and is still proceeding. Mr Skerrett, K.C.. and Mr Cotter, with three local solicitors, represent the petitioners, and Messrs Adams (Dunedin) and Miller represent 'lie respondents. The petition consisted of 30 clauses, alleging irregularities. Mr Skerrett. in opening, asserted that the licensing poll should be taken as secretly as the ballot, and must be held substantially to be valid according to the existing law and especially so as regarded the secrecy ot the same. He referred to three classes of irregularities, and submitted that it was for the respondent to shew that such irregularities did not and could not materially affect the result of the poll. Dealing with the petition, he affirmed that the Ohinemuri poll had not been conducted according to law, neither had the returning officer discharged his duties according to the statutory instructions. Mr Skerrett then reviewed the manner in which the poll had been conducted in the central booths, submitting that the same had not been carried out according to the provisions set forth in the Electoral Act from the very first. He asserted that the returning officer, by his methods, lost all control of the votes, and that no check was maintained on them. This was a vital point: also, that there was no protection against the undue influencing of a voter when in the very act of casting his vote. The manner in which poll clerks were employed at the entrance was also a gross violation of the law. He would show- that chaos reigned, and that, the names of voters who had recorded their votes had not been marked off the roll according to the provisions of the Electoral Act. After 1.30 it was a case of "Let 'em all come," and in they all came. All control was consequently lost. He considered that there was really no ballot. The voters fought their way to the voting compartments, back to the boxes, and then out of the booth. Force of example was a powerful one, and the voters in comparing and showing their papers had a strong tendency to influence votes; in fact, all secrecy had departed. In regard to the procedure adopted after the poll, three parcels of ballot papers had been unlawfully opened. The keys of the main booth had been lost, and ultimately recovered under the horse trough opposite the booth.

Messrs Hunt and Regan (deputy returning officers) and Robert Shaw (assistant clerk) gave corroborative evidence, alleging irregularities throughout the poll. In all o4 witnesses were examined. At the conclusion of the taking of the petitioners' evidence to-day, Mr Adams submitted that the petition should be dismissed on the grounds that no specific charge had been proved calculated to materially affect the result of the poll, and he would therefore apply to have the petition dismissed. Mr bkerrett, in reply, quoted many judgments and authorities in support of his contention that the vital principle of the ballot wassecrecy, and this, he urged, had been violated by the manner in which the recent poll had been conducted. The Court deferred its decision in connection with Mr Adams' application till to-morrow morning.