OHINEMURI LICENSING POLL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3104, 29 January 1909, Page 5

OHINEMURI LICENSING POLL.

By Telegraph—Press Association WAIHI, January 28.

The enquiry into the petition lodged against the validity of the Ohinemuri Licensing Poll, by eighty electors, has occupied the attention of the special Court, consisting of Colonel Roberts, and Messrs Burgess and Cutten. S.M.'s, since Monday last, and is still proceeding. Messrs Skerrett, K.C., and Cotter, with three local solicitors, represent the peti tioners, and Messrs Adams (Dunedin) and Miller represent respondents. The petition consisted of 30 clauses alleging irregularities. Mr Skerrett, in opening, asserted that the Licensing Poll should be taken as a secret ballot, and must be held substantially to be valid according to the existing law, and substantially so as regarded the secrecy of the. same. He referred to three classes of irregularities, anJ submitted that it was for the respondents to show 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 dutiesaccording to statutory instructions. Mr Skerrett then reviewed the manner in which the poll had been conducted in the central booth, submitting that the same had not been carried out according to the provisons set forth in the Electoral Act. From the very first, he asserted, the Returning Officer, by his methods, lost all control of the voters, and no check was maintained on them. This was a vital point. Also that there was no protection against the undue influence of the voter when in the very act of casting their votes. The manner in which the 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 provision of the Electoral Act. After 11.30 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, and back to the boxes, then out of the booth. 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 Mr Robertshaw, assistant dark, gave corroborative evidence, alleging irregularities throughout ihe poll. In all thirty-four witnesses were examined. « At the conclusion of 'the taking of 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 Skerrett, in reply, quoted many judgments and authorities in support of his contention that the vital principle of the ballot was secrecy, 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.