818
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

memorandum on which any Registration Officer ought to have relied, as it contained the
strongest internal evidence that it was the production of a partisan. Yet Mr. Williams seems
to have relied on it with more implicit faith than the writer expected, or even desired. I can
only account for such conduct, on the part of a gentleman whose character for honor and
integrity stands high, by supposing that, unconsciously to himself, he had suffered his judgment
to become warped and his official acts influenced by personal or political antipathy to his
brother's opponent, Mr. Lundon. That being my deliberate opinion, it is, I think, a matter for
great regret that, when Mr. Williams found his feelings enlisted in local political questions, he
did not retire from a position where his honor might not unreasonably be called in question.

I have already alluded to the extraordinary ruling given by Mr. Lawlor on the 6th of June
last on the technical point raised by Mr. Tole. That decision seems to me to have been almost
childish, but its effect was to place on the electoral roll all of the names objected to by the Regis-
tration Officer, including the names of dead, absent, and obviously-disqualified persons. Mr.
Lawlor was probably impressed by the fact that Mr. Tole, a gentleman of the legal profession,
and a member of the House of Representatives, seriously raised the point; but he ought to have
reflected that Mr. Tole might think himself at liberty to urge a point as an advocate which as a
Judge he would deride. The decision was undoubtedly unsound, and was unfortunate in its
effects, directly and indirectly. Taken in connection with other circumstances, it gave an appear-
ance of probability to the suspicion that the Government had become a party to a design of
placing Maoris on the roll without that proper examination into the merits of the claims provided
for by law. Other circumstances were not wanting to strengthen the suspicion. Mr. Williams,
the Registration Officer, had been practically dismissed the very day before the sitting of the
Revision Court, and Captain Baker, who was appointed the same day to the vacant office, was a
gentleman utterly incompetent to perform the duties. To use his own expression, he was "totally
unacquainted with the duties," and, in my opinion, quite incapable of learning them. These
things, which have been placed prominently before the public on many occasions, did look as if
the Government were designedly promoting the improper packing of the roll, and deliberately
burking an inquiry which might purge it. But, beyond the facts previously well known, nothing
has come out in this inquiry to lend support to the suspicion, and I think an examination of the
circumstances will show its utter improbability. Whether it was right or wrong for the Regis-
tration Officer to make his objections, the fact remained that they had been made. The impro-
priety, so far as it existed, had been accomplished. The burden of proof being on the claimants
who had been objected to, no active duty remained for the Registration Officer to perform. It
cannot be thought that the Government believed that inquiry before the Revision Court would be
burked, except it be first assumed that the Government had knowledge that Mr. Lawlor, the
Revision Officer, and an officer of the Supreme Court, would deliver a judgment grotesque in its
absurdity. I am not prepared for so violent an assumption, and therefore, while the sudden dis-
missal of Mr. Williams, at so short a period prior to the sitting of the Revision Court, was no
doubt most inconvenient and objectionable, I think the Government must be acquitted of the
depth of iniquity which has been imputed to it.

In reference to the mode in which petitions to the House were got up, little need be said,
after the description I have given of the way in which electoral claims were filled. If one in ten
of the names on the petitions could be shown to be genuine signatures I should feel surprised.
But the Maoris have a habit of allowing two or three persons to sign such documents for many
others, present and absent; and this explanation may extenuate what otherwise might be regarded
as wholesale forgeries.

In thus going over the facts of this inquiry as they have presented themselves to my mind,
I have pretty plainly indicated the view I have taken of them; but, as I am specially enjoined to
report an opinion on the various questions raised by this inquiry, I will here briefly recapitulate
my opinion on the most important points.

I think, then, that Mr. John Lundon has for years past deliberately endeavoured to place
persons on the electoral roll for the Mongonui and Bay of Islands District with the view of
rendering it more favourable to himself, and without caring whether such persons were qualified
or not. It is my opinion that, of the 373 claims which he caused to be preferred in 1878, four-
fifths had no legal qualification, and that, of the remaining fifth, many were vicious and invalid
by reason of the mode in which the claims were prepared. I think that the late Registration
Officer, Mr. Williams, permitted, perhaps unconsciously, his political sympathies and dislikes to
influence him in the discharge of his official duties as Registration Officer—that he made his
objections on insufficient information, and thus became an instrument to forward the objects of
a local party or faction. I think that both of Mr. Lawlor's celebrated, or notorious, decisions
were unsound in law, and that his capacity is not equal to the performance of the duties
of Revising Officer in a district where difficult questions may arise. I think that Mr.
Baker, the new Registration Officer at Russell, is altogether unfit for that position. I think
that the conduct of the Government in removing Mr. Williams from the position of Registration
Officer at so unfortunate a time was inconsiderate, injudicious, and objectionable; but I do not
believe that the Government, or any member of it, had any intention by that means of preventing
due inquiry into the merits or demerits of the claims objected to by Mr. Williams.

It will probably be observed that scarcely any one concerned seems to come well out of this
inquiry, and this circumstance has occurred forcibly to my own mind. In further illustration

I have pretty plainly indicated the view I have taken of them; but, as I am specially enjoined to
report an opinion on the various questions raised by this inquiry, I will here briefly recapitulate
my opinion on the most important points.

I think, then, that Mr. John Lundon has for years past deliberately endeavoured to place
persons on the electoral roll for the Mongonui and Bay of Islands District with the view of
rendering it more favourable to himself, and without caring whether such persons were qualified
or not. It is my opinion that, of the 373 claims which he caused to be preferred in 1878, four-
fifths had no legal qualification, and that, of the remaining fifth, many were vicious and invalid
by reason of the mode in which the claims were prepared. I think that the late Registration
Officer, Mr. Williams, permitted, perhaps unconsciously, his political sympathies and dislikes to
influence him in the discharge of his official duties as Registration Officer—that he made his
objections on insufficient information, and thus became an instrument to forward the objects of
a local party or faction. I think that both of Mr. Lawlor's celebrated, or notorious, decisions
were unsound in law, and that his capacity is not equal to the performance of the duties
of Revising Officer in a district where difficult questions may arise. I think that Mr.
Baker, the new Registration Officer at Russell, is altogether unfit for that position. I think
that the conduct of the Government in removing Mr. Williams from the position of Registration
Officer at so unfortunate a time was inconsiderate, injudicious, and objectionable; but I do not
believe that the Government, or any member of it, had any intention by that means of preventing
due inquiry into the merits or demerits of the claims objected to by Mr. Williams.

It will probably be observed that scarcely any one concerned seems to come well out of this
inquiry, and this circumstance has occurred forcibly to my own mind. In further illustration