ENQUIRY" RE TOWN BOARD PETITION.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 184, 25 December 1886, Page 2

ENQUIRY" RE TOWN BOARD PETITION.

On Wednesday, 15fch inst.,^H. W. Northcroft, Esq., R.M. (Hamiltoh), held ft public enquiry in the Court Hotjge, Te Aroha, respecting the signatures attached to the petition recently got up praying that Te Arolia be constituted a Town "District, so largely and influentially signed, unanimously approved and confirmed by Piako County Council, and forwarded to Government. ' The Reason of an Enquiry being: Heia. | Mr Mills's Allegations. Mr Geo. Robson, on behalf of the Town District petitioners, requested His, Worship to make known the contents of the letter Mr Mills had writlen to Government, with the eviient desire to if possible defeat the object of the petV ti oners. His Worship complied, by reading such portion of the letter as will • be" found below, but declined to read all the letter, stating- the portion he should omit would not affect the result of the enquiry, and was better left unread. Copy of portion of letter rend :: — • . Te Aroha, 27th Nov., 1886; ' The Hon. P. Buckley, Esq. Dear Sir, — Re .the Borough Petition: After their interview with you, the opposition dropped their petition, and « on Monday morning last went out with a petition for Town District. On Tuesday evening I asked Mr Robson if he would allow me to copy the names before it was sent away, having allowed them to copy the names attached to Borough petition; this he flatly.. refused. I asked this because I had reason to think people were signing who were not entitled, as householders : from .enquiries' made -I have reason to believe my suspicions to be correct. Mr D. J. Frazer fold me that he was asked to sign, and refused, and when hd got home Mrs Frazer told him that some one had beon to the house and asked her to sign, telling her that Mr Frazer had sent them, and that she had signed it. She is a married woman living with her husband in his house ; I am told that Mrs Faes, Mrs Moody, and Mrs Wilson -jhave also signed ithe petition, and their cases are exactly the same as Mrs ; a gentleman who saw the petition says that the name of W. G. Devey was on the petition. ] I hare seen Devey, and he says that! he has neither signed, or authorised anyone' to sign his name. Then there is the ca?e of an old man known as Old Jncky^but whose proper name T have not yet been able to get, who shakes down in a shinty rented by W. Lincoln : Mr J. P. Vause, ; the postmaster, signed the petition] as also did Mr O'Connor through misrepresentation of its object, and both of them said in the presence of myself and others that they would be glad to got ifc off,* being sorry they have signed it. If you have any serious intention of consideringthis petition, or it-it is -possibW-ihat itmay receive the assent of the Governor in praference^to.iheJßoroughJpetition; I would ask you kindly to cause tph'e for-J. warded to my address a copy of iKe jsig- , natuves'io said, Town^isfrifits^petitfon,so that my committee may ascertain if they' 'haVd- tli6 neceSsafy twoTtKi/ds pF th*e signatures of the A>ona $dc ? houso- : . holders! .in *the\: district, tincl ol prbtiise. you; tlw^l holders in the district,, also of the nahnos of all persons wiio are, improperly ohlthe petition!; /I' take that 'a householder 8s a" 'liefsih"' etor ( 'oWn'irig v 4incl ''o^cu^nt a , "house', •onV'p&Ts'Qrf v'^ntin^ a'ritl r o'c6 ! a^>j ing' '.one^iEjil^Bvtwmiig'lsliaalil'/gsteeiii <a cor-'-, rect definition-a-fftvour from you * * * * H) e\*C3 Tc&l'i * j Yihirs sln'cerely, l <> :, 'OKI v s~:rTv."''T p^^s ]\l-i1,13. /■ iWhat it3)6 'latter pfli'fcjb^'fcHs prolnction contained' is'.aonatter of little consequence: —possibly Bpm.ething of the* ui'n'f; allegr.ifdhg'.^lVo may ros(> ass'imd" Mr Milla's apparent object- in so writ-

in*'. I'^^moixiqrHuilun attached to Mio ■ 'p'i,fti(stl : vf^i;t \o i\i< N'.ilh^oit, Mr OnoD&f. Under* Secretary, thus comments-: , "I suppose this letter >4 of Mr Mills^will necessitate' an enquiry being made mto v ' the genuineness of thejrignattffes, or rather of the persfons to' sign. This will not improbably defeat' the ob,* ject of -the petitioners by delaying proclamatiotirtrll after Jan. lsfe- NoHime should be lost in taking action." To which the Colonial Secretary added," No ,time,j3hould be\lo9t.Jiu.raaking the enquiry?' ' From these remarks it is evident Government fully* recognised the necessity of all possible despatch being used with regard to holding the enquiry, in order that, if the required number of signatures were still found on the petition after the enquiry had been held, Te Aroha might be constituted a Town District* *" Only Ratepayers to Sign Petition """ Mr Northcroft stated that his instructic ns from Government Thereto ascertain if the " required majority of ratepayers had signed the petition ; and that being a resident householder was not sufficient qualification to sign,' unless liable to ! be rated, and that he had requested Messrs Vause (Postmaster), Wilson (Clerk l of Court), and Emerson (Sergeant ■of Police), to assist him in going, over the names attached to the petition and ascertaining who were and who were not liable to be rated ; and for this purpose the Court would stand adjourned for one hour, viz , till noon. , The Enquiry, was re-opened at 12 o'clock, but at once further adjourned till 2 p.m., the names not having been all gone over. The Court of 'Enquiry re-opened at 2 p.m., when a list of names which had, been queried was read o.ver, about 40 in number. J " t Mr Robson remarked that as'Mr Mills had objected to the names on thd petition, l^,e should surely bo the one who would have to prove why the uam^s queried should nofc be left .on the peti^. tion. . . ' ' ( His Worship said': Mr Mills had: no more to do with the petition now. ilt was now for him to, "take the statutory number of thoaejiable tojbe rated. He did not say the names just read were struck 'off, they were only queried as being .doubtful as to whether they could [be rated or nofc, and it would be for thjem \ to prove that they should be kept on the : peviwont His Worship said : He wished Mr Robson and the other gentlemen who had taken round the petition for sigha :i tures to prove that the names of those, queried had a right to be placed on tho "petition.- ' - ,Mr Robson : Those who had obtained the signatures, viz., hiniself and Messrs Ilott and T. Wood were prepared to prove that tho signatures severally obtained by them and found attached to the petition were those of resident householders. Mr Ilott was absent in Auckland, but had been wired lor and would be back by the train that afternoon. \le supposed the only thing he could do would be to bring every one ,>vbo bad signed the petition to prove that they were resident householders. His Worship then proceeded to deal severally with the names that had been queried, which took' some considerable time. In most instances those queried were shown as liable to be rated, and with -respect to. Mr Mills's objections His Worship informed Mr Mills he had ; completely failed in every instance' to prove the allegations he had made, and that his objections had been done away with altogether. , The enquiry closed about 3.80 ' p.m., and at its termination Hia Worship publiclythanked those who had assisted him in the matter of the enquiry, whilst iMr Wobd thanked His Worship for 'the patient »nd_ exhaustive manner in wfyich he had gone into the matter. His Worship having then informed those present that he was 'nofc at ' liberty to make known the actual result of his enquiry.! with reapact to the.naniea -attached toithe petition, but would have to for ward "both the^petifcion and evidence/ to,: ,\y"e,}!n»g fc 9 n to, the enquiry closed. j ' iIJ