INQUIRY RE TOWN BOARD PETITION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 282, 18 July 1888, Page 2

INQUIRY RE TOWN BOARD PETITION.

(Reprinted from the Aroiia and Ohinemuri News, Saturday, December 2511), 188 G. On Wednesday, ]sth inst., 11. W. Norfchcroft, Esq., E.M. (Hamilton), held a public enquiry in the Court House, To Avoha, respecting the signatures attached to the petition recently got up pmying that Te Aroiia be constituted a Town District, so largely and influentially signed, unanimously approved and confirmed by Piako County Council, and forwarded to Government. THE REASON 01? AN ENQtTIItY BEING HELD* MR MILLS'S ALLEGATIONS. Mr Geo. Kobson, on behalf of the Town District petitioners, requested His Worship to make known the contents of the letter MiMills had wiitten to Government, with tho evident desire to, if possible, defeat the object of tho petitioner's. His Worship complied by reading such portion of the letter as will be found below, bub declined to read all the letter, stating tho portion he should omit would not affect the result of tho inquiry, and 'was bettor left unread. Copy of portion of letter read : — To Aroha, 27th Nov., 1886. Tho lion. 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 asfced Mr Robson if ho would allow me to copy the names heforo ib was sent away, having allowed them to copy tho names attached to Borough petition ; this ho flatly refused. I asked this because I had reason to think pooplo wero signing, who were not entitled, as householders j from enquiries made I have reason to relieve my suspicions to bo correct. Mr D. J. Ifrazor told mo that he wrw asked to

sign and refused, and when he got home Mrs Frazer told him that someone had been 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 houlb. lam told that Mrs Faes, Mrs Moody, and Mrs Wilson have also signed the petition, and their cases are exactly the same as Mrs Frazer's. A gentleman who saw the petition Bays that the name of W. G. Devey was on , the petition. I have seen Devey, and he says f lhat he has neither signed or authorised anyone to sign his na'tne. Then there is the case of an old man known as Old Jacky, hut whose proper name I have not yet been able to got, who shakes-down in a shanty rented by W. Lincoln. Mr J. P. Yause, 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 get it off, being sorry they have signed it. If you have any serious intention of considering this petition, or if it is possible that it may receive the assent of the Governor in preference to the Borough petition, 1 1 would aslc you kindly to cause to be forwarded to my address a copy of signatures to said Town Districts' petition, so that my committee may ascertain if they have the neccessary two thirds of the signatures of the bonafide householders in the district, and I promise you that I will, with all possible despatch, send you a correct list of all the householders in the district, also of the names of all persons who are improperly on the petition. I take that a householder is a person either owning or occupying a house, or a person renting and occupying one. If lam wrong Bhould esteem a correct definition a favour from you *^_ * * * * * Yours sincerely, James Mills. What the latter part of this production contained is a matter of little consequence. Possibly something of the nature of aj^ersonal attack, or some more allegations. We may rest assured Mr Northcroft declined to make it public for some wise reason. Mr Mills's apparent object in so writing : In a memorandum attached to the peti tion as sent to Mr Northcroft, Mr Cooper, Under- Secretary, thus comments: " I suppose this letter of Mr Mills's will necessitate an enquiry being made into the genuineness of the signatures, or rather of the persons to sign. Thiß will not improbably defeat the object of the petitioners by delaying proclamation till after January Ist. No time should be lo9t in taking action." To which the Colonial Secretary added, "No time should be lost in making 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 bo constituted a Town District. ONLY RATEPAYERS TO SIGN" PETITION. Mr Northcroft staled that his instructions from Government were to ascertain if the requivod msijority of ratepayers had siened the petition : and that being a resident householder wns not sufficient qualification to sign, unless liable to be rated, and that he had requested Messrs Yause (Postmaster), Wilson (Cleih of Oonrt), and Emerson (Sergeant of Police), to assist him in going over the n imes attache I to the petition ,md ascertaining who were and \\\\o were liable to be rated ; and for this puiposp tl>c Court would stand adjourned for one hour, viz, till noon. The Enquiry wis ro-opened ah 12 o'clock, but at once fwrtht r adjourned till 2 p m., the names not having been all gone ov n r. The Couit of Enqu iv re < penel -it 2 p.m , when a list of n nines which bad bei'ii queried wero icad over, abonl 40 \n nan her. Mr Ilobsi n n nun ke I thnL as Mr Mills had objected to Iho i ames on the petition he should surely bo Ihe one who would have to prove A\hy the n>i;ies queued should not be lefb on the petition. Plis Woislup said : Mr Mills had no more to do with the politiou now. It; was now for him to take the sfntntory nnmb-r of those liable to bo rated. He did not say the names just rond wore struck off, they were only queried as being doubtful as to whether they could be rated or not, and it would be for them to prove that they should be kept on the jjetition. He wished Mr Robson and the other gentlemen who had taken round the petition for signatures to prove that the names of those queried had a right to be placed on the petition. Mr .Robson ; Those who had obtained the signatures, viz., himself and Messrs Ilott and T. Wood were prepared to prove that the 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 for and would be back by the train that afternoon. He supposed the only thing he could do would be to bring every one who had 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 3fr Jlills 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 3.30 p.m., and at its termination Hia Worship publicly thanked those who had assisted him in the matter of enquiry, whilst Mr Wood thanked His Worship for the patient and exhaustive manner in which he had gone into the matter. His Worship having then informed those present that he was not at liberty to make known the actual result of his enquiry with respect to the petition, but would have to forward both the petition and evidence to Wellington, the enquiry closed.

With reference to certain statements mado by Mv Mills in his letter to the Colonial Secretary which appears in our columns *-o-day, we may say on being enquired into they appeav to bo utterly false. Mr Q-. Robson who took the petition to Mrs Frazer to sign never mentioned such a thing as that Mr If razor had sent him. Mrs Frazer, Mrs -Wilson, and Mrs Faes, all signed the petition of their own free will, whilst Mrs Moody's name ipas nob on the petition at all. With respect to Mr Or. Devoy, jun., ho signed the petition together with his father and Mr Jesa jjevcy (his uncle), in the presence of each other, the sigatures being witnessed by Mr Ilott, and further, has since told Mr Robson that he never uttered such words as Mr Mills states in his letter. Mr Vauso has since the enquiry also told Mr Robson, -who witnessed his signature, he never toH Mr Mills he signed tho petition through rnisrepro* scntation of its object. Mr O'Connor also informed Mr Robson tho statement made in Mr Mill's letter respecting him was entirely false. > This is a nico specimen of tho totally unjustifiable charges sometimes laid asjainst others by thoso who are not over careful ag fo what they say, if thereby they can but gain the end they havo in view, and Mr < Mill's endeavour to upset the Town Board petition will be productive of good, if alono its being the means of this letter of his boing mado public. Our readers will form their own conclusions with respect to his conduct in dealing thus with other people's name).