WAITARA HARBOR POLL.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1915, Page 6

WAITARA HARBOR POLL.

PETITION TO "UPSET IT FAILS. Judgment was delivered by Mr. A. Orooke, S.M., yesterday on the petition lodged by Herman Sander and others in the Tarata-Purangi district, praying that the recent poll taken by tSie Waitara Harbor Board to raise a loan of £13,000 might be declared null and void. The principal grounds of the petition were on account of insufficient advertising of the proposed poll. Mr. A. H.' Johnstone, instructed by Messrs Standish, Standish and Bullock, appeared far the petitioners!, and Mr. J. B. Eoy for the Waitara Harbor Board. In the course of his judgment, the Magistrate said the petition asked that the poll should be declared void on the ground that sufficient notice had not been given of the day fixed for taking the poll. Mr. Roy raised a preliminary pojjjt that the petition did not contain the allegation that the returning officer declared the proposal to be carried, but his Worship did not think the omission was material. Admittedly the' Harbor Board had followed the requirements of the Local Bodies Loans Act in respect of time, but what was complained of was that the notice was published in the Waitara Mail, and that that newspaper did not meet the requirements of the Local Bodies Act as "any newspaper circulating in the district." It was proved that the Waitara Mail had a good circulation in the most populous parts of the district, and is the only newspaper which is published hi the Waitara harbor district. There were sixteen polling booths, and in the districts covered by* these booths the Waitara Mail did not circulate at all in five, it circulated to a. very limited extent in four or five, and had a good circulation in the other districts where there were booths. There are 1208 names on the roll, but according to the-evidence ol the petitioners only 801 were effective, and of these s6l there were 561 who were ratepayers in the parts of the district where the Waitara Mail had a good cir-i eulation, and the balance of 300 lived where the Waitara Mail did not circulate or only circulated to a limited extent. Several ratepayers from different parts of the district gave evidence that they did not know the date of the polling, although they had been locking out for a notice of it, and they were prevented from voting. "Under the circumstances," continued the Magistrate, "I must hold that the publication in the Waitara Mail was not sufficient, as the Mail circulated only in part of the district, and that a publication to comply with the provisions'of the Acts shall be in one or more newspapers which circulate either singly or the whole of the district." But if one-half of those .'voted where the population was thickest it was' justifiable to assume that not more than one-half would vote where the population was sparse, and judging from the evidence as 1 to the votes vecorded ,at previous eloc* tions, such as the County Council elec? tions and on different other occasions, this would be a very liberal estimate. If, then, all the ratepayers who mada up the half of those- ratepayers who lived where the Waitara .Mail did .not circulate, voted against the proposal, it would sthll have been earnjedj as there was a majority of 173 in favor of the proposal. So'if 150 were deducted from the 17.1, there would still be a majority of 23 for the proposal. Continuing, the Magistrate said that in hi.s opinion the'insufficient notice of the date of taking the poll did not materially affect the result, and therefore he could not have the result declared void. Mr. Johnstone asked that no costs should be allowed. Authorities showed that where there were good "rounds for bringing a petition costs should not be allowed even if the petition failed. The Magistrate ordered that the petitioners' deposit should be refunded, less the cost cbf advertising the case.

The petitioners and the Harbor Board were each ordered to pay their own costs.