THE ELECTION PETITIONS.
THE FINALITY QF THE ROLL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, April 90. The Full Court gave .judgment this morning on tfie final question in the election case 9. It held that the electoral roll is not conclusive where the question of status is concerned, but is ono of procedure merely. The question before the court was whether the electoral roll is conclusive or whether the Court can go behind the roll and remove the names of disqualified persons. The Court, after tracing the history of the legislation summed up in the following words:— "We are of opinion that an Electoral Court, acting under section 196, subsection (6) of the Legislature Act, 1903, must disallow the votes of (1) all persons who are by the statutes disqualified' to be registered or to continue to bo registered as voters by reason of some defect in the status or title prescribed; (2) all persons whose names the registrar is directed to erase or remove from the roll independently of qualification, and which he has failed to remove. The names of all sucli persons if on the roll are illegally there. "We include in these categories, without endoavoring to exhaust them— \1) infants, (2) persons who are not British subjects by birth or naturalisation in New Zealand, or (3) Maoris other than half-castes, (4) persons of unsound mind, (5) persons convicted, as expressed In section 38, (0) persons who have not resident in New Zealand for the requisite time, (7) persons who have not resided in the electoral district for which they claim to vote for one month immediately preceding their registration on the roll of the district, (8) persons whose names arc directed to be removed under section CI of the Act of 1908 on proof that the necessary conditions were satisfied, (9) persons whose names ought to have be-m erased under the provisions for purging the roll, or (10) under section 57 of the Defence Amendment Act, 1912." The Court held that where a person was qualified to be registered mere irregularities of procedure, such as unwitnessed claim, etc., did not empower the Court to remove the voter's name. There must be some absence of qualification. The question of costs in 'ill cases was reserved for the Election Courts or the Supreme Court.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 267, 21 April 1915, Page 5
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383THE ELECTION PETITIONS. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 267, 21 April 1915, Page 5
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