The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Militia Act 1870.”

In the interpretation of this Act and of any regulation made under its authority unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction or inconsistent therewith the words and phrases following shall have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them that is to say the word “District” shall mean a district constituted by or under this Act the word “Militiaman” shall signify a non-commissioned officer or private in the New Zealand Militia constituted under this Act and the phrase “Officer Commanding” shall mean such officer as may be appointed by the Governor to command the district or in his absence the senior Militia Officer serving in such District.

“The Militia Act 1858” “The Militia Act Amendment Act 1860” and “The Militia Acts Amendment Act 1862” and “The Militia Act 1865” and all Regulations under the authority thereof respectively are hereby repealed Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to relieve the officers or men of the Militia as constituted under any of the above-named Acts from any fines penalties or liabilities incurred thereunder or under any such Regulations as aforesaid but the same may be inflicted and recovered thereunder as if this Act had not been passed Provided also that all Commissions of Officers of Militia and all appointments of non-commissioned officers heretofore made shall be deemed to have been made under the authority of this Act but so nevertheless that the seniority of the several persons appointed before the coming into operation of this Act shall remain and subsist as it would have done if this Act had not been passed.

No person shall be an Officer of Militia unless he is one of Her Majesty’s subjects by birth or naturalization nor if he is a subject by naturalization unless he shall have taken the Oath of Allegiance.

The Governor shall be the Commander-in-Chief of the Militia and all other Colonial Forces and shall have the power of convening General Courts-Martial and of confirming the sentences thereof and of issuing his Warrant to convene General and District Courts-Martial and shall have all the powers and may exercise and discharge all the duties and obligations appertaining to the office of Commander-in-Chief respecting the Militia or any part thereof when called out for actual service or for training.

The Militia shall consist of all the male inhabitants of New Zealand between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five not hereinafter exempted who shall have resided in the Colony for the period of six calendar months.

The following persons shall be exempt from training and actual service in the New Zealand Militia—

The Aboriginal Inhabitants of New Zealand and every person descended from an Aboriginal Native and living as a member of a Native tribe or community shall also be exempt from training and service in the New Zealand Militia Provided always that the Governor in Council by Proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette may suspend the exemption of any persons mentioned in this section who shall be resident in any district in such Proclamation mentioned in which case no person of such class in such district shall be entitled to exemption by reason only of this section until such Proclamation shall be revoked by the Governor in Council.

Whenever exemption is claimed whether on the ground of age period of residence or otherwise and whenever any person alleges that he ought to be placed in a class different from that in which he is placed the burden of proof shall always rest on the person claiming exemption or so alleging.

Provided always that such exemption shall not prevent any person who is not disabled by bodily or mental disease or infirmity from serving or holding a commission in the Militia by his own consent.

The Militia shall be divided into the following classes viz.—

The Governor may in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty from time to time by Commission under the Public Seal of the Colony appoint Officers to the Militia and may confer brevet rank on any such Officer in the manner customary in Her Majesty’s regular army and may by notice in the New Zealand Gazette attach or cause to be attached such Officers or any of them to the Militia Staff or to any regiment battalion or other division thereof as he may think fit and may from time to time cancel or revoke such commissions and annul or vary such appointments Provided always that it shall not be competent for the Governor to confer a commission in the New Zealand Militia on any person until he can produce a certificate of qualification from the Officer Commanding the district in which he resides.

The North Island of New Zealand shall be divided into the several districts as set forth in the Schedule hereto which shall be designated by the names in the said Schedule respectively given to them therein and the Governor in Council may from time to time constitute districts throughout the Middle Island and Stewart’s Island or in any part of them comprising not more than one thousand six hundred square miles within each and may vary and abolish any districts so constituted by the Governor in Council and constitute new districts in lieu thereof and may give to the Militia of any such district such name as he may think fit and from time to time alter such name and give a new name thereto and the Militia of each district constituted by or under this Act shall be called by the name if any given to the district by this Act or by the Governor as the case may be Provided that all districts constituted under Acts repealed by this Act in the Middle Island or Stewart’s Island shall be deemed to have been constituted under this Act by the Governor in Council.

An Officer shall be appointed to command and periodically inspect the Militia and Volunteer Force of the Colony and be generally responsible to the Government for the efficiency thereof and to each district an Officer shall be appointed of such rank as the Governor may deem fit who shall command the Militia in such district and the Governor may also appoint for any such district a paid permanent Staff.

The Governor may from time to time by any Militia General Order divide such district into battalion or independent company divisions and may designate such divisions by such name and number as he may think fit.

The Militia resident in each battalion division shall form a battalion of the regiment of the divided district.

To each battalion there shall be appointed a Field Officer to command an Adjutant and such other number of Regimental Staff as may be necessary.

Each Officer Commanding a battalion shall from time to time divide his battalion division into company divisions and the whole of the Militia resident within each company division not being an independent company division shall form a company or companies of the battalion and to each company there may be appointed a Captain a Lieutenant and an Ensign Provided always that any Militiaman in any such company division may with the sanction of the Officer Commanding his battalion on the recommendation of the Officer Commanding his company join a company in any other company division in the same battalion division.

The Governor may appoint to all Militia battalions the proper number of Surgeons and Assistant-Surgeons.

All Militia Officers who shall not at the time this Act comes into force have been posted to a battalion or company of the Militia District in which they reside shall be placed on the Unattached List.

Any Officer quitting one Militia District and proceeding to reside in another shall not thereby forfeit his commission but shall be placed on the Unattached List of New Zealand Militia unless required to serve in the district to which he has removed.

If an Officer remains for five years on the Unattached List or if an Officer is absent from the Colony for twelve months without leave from the Governor or for twelve months after the period if any for which he shall have obtained leave the commission of such Officer shall in such case lapse and be void Provided always that it shall be lawful for the Governor in special cases to retain permanently on the Unattached List any such Officers.

The enrolment of the Militia shall be made in each company division by the Adjutant of the battalion or other officer appointed by him or Officer Commanding an independent company as the case may be who by actual inquiry at each house in the company division if necessary or by any other means in his power shall obtain and keep at all times a correct roll of the company in such form as may be directed by the Officer Commanding the district and copies of the said rolls shall in the month of January in each year be posted in conspicuous places within the said company divisions.

Each man liable under this Act for enrolment in any company battalion or regiment and not so enrolled shall within twenty days after the posting of the said rolls give in his name age and place of residence either personally or in writing to the Adjutant of the battalion or Officer Commanding the independent company as the case may be And no person liable to be enrolled shall be relieved from training and exercise or from actual service by omission from or erroneous entry of his name in such roll.

Any man liable to serve or actually serving who may remove without the limits of the district in which he resides shall within twenty days thereafter give in his name age and place of residence to the Adjutant of the battalion division or Officer Commanding the independent company division as the case may be into which he shall have removed for the purpose of being enrolled therein.

Any Militiaman having any arms clothes accoutrements or ammunition intrusted to him shall deliver up the same in good order to the Officer Commanding his company or any person authorized by him without demand on his ceasing to belong to any company by reason of change of class residence or otherwise.

If any difference shall arise between any Adjutant or Officer Commanding and any man as to his liability to serve or as to the class to which he should belong it shall be competent for the Adjutant or Officer Commanding to require him to make a declaration as to the matter in dispute in the form prescribed by “The Justices of the Peace Act 1866” before a Justice of the Peace.

Each Officer Commanding a company of Militia shall between the first and fifteenth of February in each year make out a correct roll of his company showing the names ages residences and classes of the Militiamen therein and shall transmit the same before the end of the same month to the Officer Commanding the battalion to which he belongs.

Each Officer Commanding an independent company or battalion shall before the thirty-first day of March in each year prepare and forward a correct nominal return of the independent company or battalion under his command to the Officer Commanding the district to which it belongs.

Every master or mistress of any dwelling-house whether a tavern boarding-house lodging-house or private house shall upon the application of any Militia Officer acting as an enrolling officer give all such information as to the names ages qualifications and liability to serve in the Militia of all persons residing or lodging in such house as such Officer may demand and such master or mistress shall be able to give.

The Governor shall cause the whole of the Militia or such part thereof as he may think proper to be trained as a military force and for this purpose shall by Proclamation in the Government Gazette cause notice of fourteen days to be given of the times and places for the first muster And such notice shall be published in some local newspaper circulating in the Province in which the district is situate or be posted in some conspicuous place within the district The particular times and places for subsequent meetings shall be fixed in every Militia District by the Officer Commanding in such district Provided that it shall be lawful for every Officer in command at any first muster or subsequent meeting by order on parade and without further notice to give notice of and appoint other times and places for such meetings Such notice as aforesaid shall be deemed sufficient notice to every Militiaman of the time and place of every meeting Provided always that no Militiaman shall be compelled to attend for training and exercise more than one hundred and sixty-eight hours in any one year and provided also that any Militiaman called out at the time of the passing of this Act shall be deemed to have been called out under this Act.

Every Militiaman who shall appear at the time and place appointed for training and exercise or for active service shall when required by the Officer Commanding or by some other Commissioned Officer on his behalf take an oath in the following form—

Oath.

Provided that any person objecting from conscientious scruples to take an oath may make a solemn affirmation to the same effect as the oath.

Every person whether liable to serve in the Militia or not who is guilty of any of the offences following that is to say—

Wilfully refusing or neglecting to give information or knowingly giving false information as to the name age qualifications and liability to serve in the Militia of any person residing or lodging in the house whereof the offender is master or mistress and every wilful neglect to answer a question and every false statement knowingly made shall be deemed a distinct offence.

Interrupting or obstructing any Militia at muster inspection or parade

Going or remaining upon any place where any Militia are exercising or are at muster inspection or parade after being warned by any Officer of Militia not to go thereon or to depart therefrom

shall incur a penalty not exceeding one pound and every person guilty of any such offence as is mentioned in the last two subdivisions of this section may be arrested by the order of the senior Officer of Militia present and kept in custody until the exercising muster inspection or parade is over for the day and then either taken in custody before a Justice of the Peace or discharged from custody as the senior Officer present at the conclusion of the parade muster or inspection shall think fit.

Every person liable to serve or actually serving in the Militia who is guilty of any of the offences following that is to say—

Failing to send or give in writing a statement of his name age and place of residence to the Adjutant of the battalion or Officer Commanding the independent division within the time mentioned in the twenty-fourth section of this Act or in the twenty-fifth section of this Act

Refusing to take the oath of allegiance

Neglecting or refusing to attend any muster inspection or parade at the place and hour appointed therefor

Absenting himself without leave from any muster inspection or parade during any part of the time appointed therefor

Refusing or neglecting to obey any lawful order of his superior Officer while at any muster inspection or parade

Being insolent towards his superior Officer while in the execution of his duty as such Officer

Behaving in a disorderly manner or in a manner contrary to good discipline while attending any muster inspection or parade

Being in a state of intoxication at any muster inspection or parade

Failing to keep in proper order any arms accoutrements or ammunition intrusted to him

shall incur a penalty not exceeding one pound for each offence Provided that any person who shall have paid the penalty for or been convicted of the offence mentioned in the subdivision one of this section who shall after such payment or conviction fail to send or give the statement therein mentioned shall incur a further penalty not exceeding one shilling for every day on which such failure shall continue.

Every person whether liable to serve in the Militia or not who shall be guilty of any of the offences following that is to say—

Knowingly taking any duty or toll in respect of any person horse or other beast cart waggon carriage or gun exempt from duty or toll under this Act

Making any false representation respecting himself or any other person or respecting any horse or other beast cart waggon carriage or respecting any arms baggage or gun with intent in any of the said cases to evade or to enable any other person to evade the payment of any duty or toll through the operation of this Act and whether the payment of any duty or toll is thereby evaded or not

shall incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

Every person who shall lose or waste or spoil through neglect or lend to any other person or take or send out of the district in which he resides or neglect or refuse to return in good order to the Officer Commanding his company or to any person authorized by the Officer Commanding the district to receive the same any arms clothes accoutrements or ammunition intrusted or issued to him as a Militiaman shall incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds in addition to the value of the arms clothes accoutrements or ammunition lost wasted spoiled or detained or the amount of the damage done thereto as the case may he.

Every person who shall sell pawn give in exchange or give away any arms accoutrements clothes or ammunition intrusted to him as a Militiaman and every person who shall knowingly buy receive or take in pawn or exchange or by way of gift or who having bought received or taken in pawn or exchange or by way of gift shall knowingly conceal or make away with any such arms accoutrements clothes or ammunition shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and being convicted thereof shall be liable at the discretion of the Court to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years.

Whenever any person serving in the Militia shall be deemed by the Officer Commanding the regiment independent company or battalion in which such person is enrolled or serving guilty of any of the offences following that is to say—

such Officer may by writing under his hand order that such person shall pay such fine not exceeding one pound for each offence as such Officer may think fit and if such person shall within seven days after service of a copy of such order upon him either personally or by leaving the same at his last known abode pay such fine to the Adjutant of the battalion or Officer Commanding the independent company to which he belongs he shall be relieved from all liability under this Act to any penalty for the offence in respect whereof the order was given Provided always that it shall not be necessary in any proceeding for the recovery of a penalty under this Act to prove that any such order has been made nor shall the making of such order take away or suspend the jurisdiction of any Court to try the offence but every such proceeding shall be had in the same manner as if the offence had been one in respect whereof no power to inflict a fine had been given by this section of this Act unless the defendant shall prove that he has paid the fine imposed within the said period of seven days Provided also that in the absence of the Officer Commanding the regiment independent company or battalion the senior Officer on parade not being under the rank of Captain shall exercise the powers contained in this clause.

All fines paid under the preceding section shall be paid to the Officer Commanding the battalion or independent company to which the offender belongs and shall be accounted for dealt with and be applied towards the encouragement of target practice in such battalion or independent company in such manner as shall be prescribed by regulations to be made from time to time by the Governor.

It shall he lawful for the Governor or such person as he shall from time to time by warrant under his hand appoint as his deputy for that purpose to direct the Officer Commanding the Militia of any district with all convenient speed to draw out for actual service such Militia Force or such part or number thereof as the Governor or such deputy shall judge necessary and in such manner as shall to him seem best and to lead the said forces into any part of the district in which such Militia shall have been raised and such Militia shall continue on actual service until the Governor shall by Proclamation release such Militia from actual service Provided always that no Militia Officer or Militiaman in any regiment shall be carried or ordered to go beyond the boundaries of the district for which such regiment or independent company is raised except only such as shall volunteer for service out of the same Immediately on such direction being given to the Officer Commanding any district if such direction be to draw out the whole regiment every man liable to serve therein shall be deemed to be on actual service whether he has had notice thereof or not and shall not leave such district without the sanction of the Officer Commanding the district.

When a part only of the Militia are required for actual service such men as may volunteer for service with the approval of the senior Officer there present shall be first taken and every man so volunteering shall immediately be deemed to be on actual service and if the number so volunteering shall be insufficient the whole of the First Class shall be taken before any are taken from the Second Class and the whole of the Second Class before any of the Third Provided that where a part only of one class are required the Officer in command shall draw the requisite number or the number required beyond those volunteering as aforesaid by lot taken in public and his certificate of the drafting of any Militiaman shall be sufficient evidence thereof.

Any Militiaman drafted for actual service who shall produce as a substitute a man approved by the Officer Commanding and the Medical Officer in charge shall upon the swearing in of such substitute be exempt from service for the term of one year unless the whole of the class to which such substitute belongs shall be taken or drafted for actual service before the expiration of such term and every such substitute shall when sworn in be deemed to have been drafted for actual service.

The ordinary time of actual service for a Militiaman shall be one year and no Militiaman shall be required to serve for a further period until all the men of his class shall have served for a like period unless he shall volunteer for a longer period or unless the whole of his class shall be called out for actual service Provided that whenever any part of a class which has already served for one period or more shall be required to serve for a second or any further period those shall be taken first who have served the shortest time and among those who have served the same time the drafting shall be determined if necessary by lot in manner aforesaid.

During the time that any part of the Militia shall be on actual service all things contained in any Act of the Imperial Parliament which shall then be in force in New Zealand for punishing mutiny and desertion and for the better payment of the army and their quarters and in the Articles of War made in pursuance of such Act shall apply to and the powers thereby created shall be exercised by such part of the Militia in all cases not otherwise provided for in this Act or in any Regulations that may from time to time be issued under its authority Provided that no Militiaman shall he liable to any corporal punishment except death or imprisonment for any offence against any such Act of Parliament or Articles Provided also that no such Act or Articles of War shall be deemed to be in force in New Zealand until a Proclamation shall have been published in the New Zealand Gazette stating that the Governor has received a copy thereof.

None but Officers holding commissions in the Militia the Volunteer Force or in the Armed Constabulary shall sit on any Militia Court-Martial.

Officers of the Militia shall rank with Officers of like rank in the Volunteer and Armed Constabulary Force according to the dates of their commissions Provided always that Officers of the Militia Force shall have precedence over Officers of the Volunteer and Armed Constabulary Force when holding commissions of the same rank and date.

The Governor in Council may from time to time make alter and revoke Regulations respecting the enrolment discipline training exercise arms accoutrements clothing equipment conveyance pay rations and lodging of the Militia or any part thereof and generally for the more effectual carrying out of this Act and may appoint any penalty not exceeding five pounds for any offence therein specified or for any breach of such Regulations recoverable in the same manner as if such offence or breach were one of the offences mentioned in the thirty-fourth section of this Act Provided always that the Regulations so to be made shall not be in any way repugnant to the provisions of this Act.

All Proclamations Orders in Council Warrants and General Orders relating to the Militia shall be held to be sufficiently notified to all persons whom they may concern by their insertion in the New Zealand Gazette and the production of a paper purporting to be a copy of the said Gazette and purporting to contain any such Proclamation Order in Council Warrant or General Order shall be conclusive evidence of the making publication and contents thereof and of the date of such Gazette.

All orders made by the Officer Commanding a battalion or Officer Commanding an independent company shall be held to be sufficiently notified to all persons whom they may concern by their insertion in some newspaper circulating in the district where the persons to be thereby affected reside or by posting copies thereof in the most public places within the district or by being publicly read on parade.

The arms and accoutrements of every Officer of the Militia and of every Militiaman and the horses kept or used by any of the same for the discharge of their duties as such Officers or Militiamen shall be exempt from seizure in execution and from distress and assessment.

Any duty or toll leviable at any pier wharf quay landing-place bridge or ferry or at any turnpike-gate or bar or at any other gate or bar on a public road shall not be demanded or taken for—

Any Officer of the Militia or any Militiaman being on march or duty or going to or returning from the place appointed for and on the day for exercise inspection review or other public duty and being armed or in uniform

Any horse when ridden or used by any Officer or Militiaman as aforesaid on march or duty or going or returning as aforesaid

Any cart waggon or carriage public or private employed only in carrying or conveying any Officer or Militiaman as aforesaid being on march or duty or going or returning as aforesaid and being armed or in uniform with or without any conductor or driver of such cart waggon or carriage or domestic servant of such Officer or Militiaman

Any cart waggon or carriage public or private employed only in carrying or conveying or returning empty from carrying or conveying having been employed only in carrying or conveying any arms or baggage of any Officer or Militiaman as aforesaid being on march or duty or going to or returning from the place appointed for exercise inspection review or other public duty or any military stores belonging to or for the use of or any gun belonging to or used by the Militia

Any horse or other beast drawing any such cart waggon or carriage as aforesaid.

All orders by the Governor or by any Officer authorized to be given by this Act or given in execution of this Act shall be valid and effectual if verbally given on parade or issued in any other manner customary in Her Majesty’s Military Service unless in cases where this Act specially requires any such order to be in writing and the production of an order in writing purporting to be made according to the provisions of this Act shall be prima facie evidence of such order without proving the signature thereto or the authority of the person making such order.

All fines and penalties imposed under this Act or any Regulations made hereunder except such as are imposed by the Officer Commanding under section thirty-eight may be recovered in a summary way before any Justice of the Peace in the manner provided by “The Justice of the Peace Act 1866” and any Act amending the same so far as it relates to summary convictions Provided that nothing in this section contained shall be deemed to affect the jurisdiction given to Courts-Martial under this Act.

A summary conviction or adjudication under this Act or under Regulations issued under authority of it or an adjudication made on appeal therefrom shall not be quashed for want of form or be removed by certiorari and a warrant of commitment on any such conviction shall not be held void by reason of any defect therein if it is therein alleged that the person therein named has been convicted and there is a good conviction to sustain the same.

No action against any Officer or person for anything done in pursuance of this Act shall be commenced after the end of three months from the doing of such act nor until one month’s notice in writing of the action and of the cause thereof has been given to the defendant And in any such action if in the Supreme Court the defendant may plead the general issue or general denial and give this Act and the special matter in evidence at the trial or if the action be in any Court of inferior jurisdiction the defendant may use such mode of defence as would under the rules or practice of such inferior Court compel the plaintiff to prove all the facts upon which his claim is founded and give this Act and the special matter in evidence at the trial or hearing And no plaintiff shall recover in any such action if a tender of sufficient amends was made before the action was brought or if a sufficient sum of money has been paid into Court by the defendant after the action was brought.

If a verdict passes for the defendant in any action referred to in the next preceding section or the plaintiff becomes nonsuit or discontinues the action after issue joined or if on demurrer or otherwise judgment is given against the plaintiff the defendant shall recover his full costs as between attorney and client and shall have the same remedy therefor as any defendant hath in other cases in the Court wherein the action is brought And though a verdict is given for the plaintiff he shall not have costs against the defendant unless the Judge before whom the trial has been had if the action is in the Supreme Court certifies his approbation of the action and the verdict therein or if the action be in any Court of inferior jurisdiction then if judgment is given for the plaintiff the Court shall by such judgment determine whether any costs shall be recovered by the plaintiff and shall ascertain the amount of such costs if any.

In the event of miners or holders of miners’ rights being called out for Militia duty their claims and interests in claims or water-rights shall be protected during their absence.

This Act shall come into operation on the first day of November one thousand eight hundred and seventy in such districts as the Governor may from time to time specify and appoint by Proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette or by such other notification as he may think fit.