1.—6

12

Hon. Mr. Bolleston : Is it part of your argument that eligibility for election constitutes a power of sitting ; and, if so, when do you hold that a person becomes a member ? Mr. Skerrett: Directly his name is returned on the writ. From that period he acquires the status of a member, and from that period liability to disqualification as a member attaches to him. Hon. Mr. Bolleston: Are you here representing Mr. Ward to the extent that you ask the Committee on his behalf to refer the matter to a legal tribunal ? Mr. Skerrett: Yes. Mr. Joyce : You will be satisfied with your first issue going with our three issues? Mr. Skerrett: Yes. Mr. Montgomery : Do I understand you to say that all these matters were subsequent, and that there is nothing to prevent a man who takes an oath of allegiance to a foreign Prince or Power from standing ? Mr. Skerrett: I intimated that subsections (2) and (3) of section 130 were ambiguous. I should be quite prepared to contend that there is nothing to prevent a person who has prior to election taken an oath of allegiance from being a candidate, unless he could be described as an " alien." Mr. Montgomery : You would contend that he could continue to sit if the oath were previous, although subject to a foreign State? Mr. Skerret: Yes, subject to the inherent right of Parliament to oxpel him if it deemed that his conduct made him unworthy to sit. My argument depends upon the proposition that sections 8 and 9 are exhaustive as to the disqualifications for eligibility as a candidate. Bt. Hon. Mr. Seddon : There is a remedy you all seem to be oblivious of—that is, that a man, although an alien, can obtain registration on the electoral roll. By being on the roll, he is then capable of being elected as a member of Parliament. But if steps were taken to question the enrolment on the ground of his being an alien, the Eegistrar might take exception to placing him on the roll.