The Short Title of this Act is “The Registration of Electors Act, 1879.”

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

It shall be lawful for the Governor from time to time to appoint such Registrars, clerks, and other officers as may be required to carry the provisions of this Act into execution.

Every person appointed under this Act shall hold office during the Governor’s pleasure.

Such salaries shall be paid to the several persons appointed under this Act as shall be from time to time appropriated for that purpose by the General Assembly.

As soon as conveniently may be after the commencement of this Act, the Registrar of every electoral district shall form a new roll for such district, by placing thereon the names of all persons who are qualified in such district to vote for members of the House of Representatives, and who are on the roll of any electoral district in force at the time of the commencement of this Act.

Forthwith, after a new division of the colony into electoral districts, in pursuance of any law for the time being in force for the constitution of such districts, new rolls shall be formed in like manner as is prescribed for the formation of the first roll.

It shall be the duty of every Registrar to make the rolls as complete as possible, and with that object from time to time to place thereon, or add thereto, the name of every person of whose qualification as an elector be is satisfied; and it shall further be his duty to assure himself of the right of every man to have his name retained upon the roll.

The roll shall be made out and kept up in the form set forth in the First Schedule to this Act.

Every person qualified to be an elector, desiring to have his name placed on the roll of any district, may make a claim and declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act. Such claim and declaration may be delivered at the office of the Registrar, or sent through the post directed to him.

Any person who wilfully makes a false declaration in respect of any of the particulars required to be stated in any such claim and declaration shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.

It shall be the duty of the Registrar, during the fifteen days following the receipt of any such claim, to make inquiries as to the truth of the particulars therein stated.

If he shall satisfy himself that the particulars stated in the claim are true, be shall, at the expiration of the said fifteen days, add the name of the claimant to the roll.

If he shall satisfy himself that any of the particulars require proof, be shall, within the said fifteen days, cause notice in writing to be given to the claimant, setting forth the particulars of which proof is required.

If the claimant satisfy the Registrar that his claim is valid, the Registrar shall forthwith place the name of the claimant on the roll.

It shall be lawful for the claimant by writing to withdraw his claim.

If within ten days after proof shall be required as aforesaid the claimant shall fail to satisfy the Registrar that his claim is valid, and shall fail to withdraw his claim, the Registrar shall, as soon as conveniently may be thereafter, apply to a Resident Magistrate or a Justice of the Peace for a summons.

The Resident Magistrate or Justice of the Peace so applied to shall forthwith issue a summons, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Third Schedule to this Act.

The summons shall be served by the Bailiff of the Resident Magistrate’s Court or his assistant, or by any other person the Resident Magistrate or Justice of the Peace may direct.

The service of the summons may be proved by oath at the hearing, or by affidavit sworn before a solicitor of the Supreme Court or a Justice of the Peace. The case shall be heard by a Resident Magistrate.

It shall be lawful for the Registrar or claimant to appear and act personally, or by an agent, or by a barrister or solicitor of the Supreme Court holding a certificate to practise.

If at the time and place specified in the summons the Registrar shall fail to appear, the case shall be dismissed, and the Registrar shall forthwith place the name of the claimant on the roll.

If the claimant fail to appear, the Resident Magistrate shall make an order that the name of the claimant shall not be placed on the roll, and the Registrar shall act accordingly.

If both Registrar and claimant appear, the claimant shall be required to prove the particulars of which proof had been required by the Registrar.

If be do so to the satisfaction of the Resident Magistrate, an order shall be made directing the Registrar to place the name of the claimant on the roll, and such name shall be placed on the roll accordingly.

If be fail to do so, an order shall be made directing the Registrar not to place the claimant’s name on the roll.

The Resident Magistrate shall have the same power of summoning and compelling the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath, and of compelling the production of documents, and of punishing persons summoned for non-attendance or for refusing to give evidence or to produce documents, and the same means of enforcing the observance of order and of punishing for contempt, as is possessed by a Resident Magistrate or by a Resident Magistrate’s Court under “The Resident Magistrates Act, 1867.”

The Resident Magistrate may at his discretion give or refuse costs to either party, as he may think fit.

If costs are given in favour of either party, the Resident Magistrate shall fix the amount, and payment thereof may be enforced in like manner as a judgment of the Resident Magistrate’s Court.

The Registrar, or any person whose name is on the electoral roll of any district, may object to the name of any other person being retained thereon, by giving notice in writing to the person objected to, setting forth the objection and the grounds thereof, in the form or to the effect specified in the Fourth Schedule to this Act.

If the person objected to shall not, within fifteen days after the service of such notice, cause his name to be removed from the roll, the objector may apply to a Resident Magistrate or a Justice of the Peace for a summons.

The Resident Magistrate or Justice of the Peace so applied to shall forthwith issue a summons, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Fifth Schedule to this Act.

If any person objected to is unknown, or cannot after due inquiry be found, the summons may be left at his place of residence as stated on the roll, and the leaving of such summons shall be a sufficient. service.

The several sections eleven, twelve, sixteen, and seventeen shall, mutatis mutandis, apply, and the proceedings to be taken on such summons shall be as near as may be in conformity therewith.

The person objected to shall be required to prove his claim to have his name retained on the roll.

If at the time and place specified in the summons the Registrar fails to appear, the case shall be dismissed.

If the person objected to fails to appear, the Resident Magistrate shall make an order that such person’s name shall be struck off the roll.

If both Registrar and person objected to appear, the case shall be heard and determined by a Resident Magistrate, and the roll amended if necessary according to such determination.

No grounds of objection shall be entertained, except such as are specifically set forth in the summons.

If the objector be other than the Registrar, he shall deposit with the Clerk of the Resident Magistrate’s Court the sum of one pound, as security for any costs that may be awarded by the Resident Magistrate against him; and such one pound may be applied in payment or part payment of any such costs.

Whenever any person whose name is on any roll of any district in respect of a residential qualification shall have removed therefrom and resided in another district for one month, he may make a written application in the form or to the effect set forth in the Sixth Schedule to this Act, to the Registrar of the district in which he has ceased to reside, for a certificate in the form or to the effect set forth in the Seventh Schedule to this Act, which shall be granted accordingly.

Upon delivery of such certificate, and a declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the Eighth Schedule to this Act, the Registrar of the district to which such person has removed shall thereupon insert the name of such person in the electoral roll of such district.

No Registrar shall so insert any name after the issue of a writ for the election of a member of the House of Representatives for such district until after the return of the writ.

Every Registrar, on giving such certificate as aforesaid, shall strike the name of the person named therein off the roll of the district in which such person has ceased to reside, and shall make a memorandum against such name as follows: “Certificate of transfer granted,” and shall initial the same.

Every Registrar so inserting the name of any person as aforesaid on any roll shall make a memorandum against such name as follows: “Transferred from [name] District,” and shall initial the same.

Any person who knowingly and wilfully makes a false statement in any application, certificate, or declaration mentioned in sections twenty-one and twenty-two of this Act shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.

The Registrar shall remove the name of every person from the roll who requests in writing that his name shall be removed therefrom, and the name of every person whose death shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar; but no name shall be so removed from the roll of any district after the issue of a writ for the election of a member for the said district until the completion of the said election.

A name shall be deemed to be removed when a line in red ink is drawn through the same and a note made opposite thereto, stating the ground of removal, initialled by the Registrar.

The names on every roll shall be placed thereon in alphabetical order and numbered consecutively, commencing with the number one.

Provided that names after the first formation of a roll shall be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are added, commencing with the number immediately following the number affixed to the last preceding name on the roll.

The roll so formed, added, to, and altered from time to time as aforesaid shall for the time being be the roll for the district for which it is made.

And the several persons whose names are on the said roll, and no other person, shall be entitled to vote at any election of a member of the House of Representatives for such district.

The roll of every district shall be kept at some convenient office or offices, to be from time to time fixed by the Colonial Secretary.

Notice of the situation of such office or offices and of every change thereof shall be given by the Registrar by advertisement, and the name of the district and a notice that the roll of such district is kept there shall be painted or affixed outside the office or offices in a conspicuous place in letters easily legible.

Any person desirous of inspecting the roll shall be entitled to do so without any payment on at least two days in every week between the hours of ten o’clock in the morning and two o’clock in the afternoon, of which days notice shall be painted or affixed as aforesaid:

And shall be entitled to copies thereof or extracts therefrom on prepayment of one shilling for every copy or extract containing less than seventy-two words, and of one shilling for every seventy-two words and fraction of seventy-two words additional.

At the expiration of four months after the first roll of any district is formed as hereinbefore provided, the same shall be printed with the names subsequently added inserted therein in alphabetical order.

At any time thereafter, whenever not less than one hundred names are added to any roll as herein provided, a new roll shall be formed by inserting therein the additional names in alphabetical order, and be reprinted, provided that it has not been reprinted within the preceding twelve months; if the roll has been reprinted within that time, then it shall be reprinted at the end of twelve months from the last reprinting thereof: Provided that it shall be lawful at any time instead of reprinting the roll to print a supplementary roll thereto; and a supplemental roll shall be printed immediately previous to a general election, or when a vacancy shall occur in the representation of any district.

Any person shall be entitled to a copy of any printed roll at the following prices: for every printed copy of any electoral roll containing any number of persons’ names,—

Notices under this Act may be served by delivering the same to the person to whom they are addressed, or by leaving the same at his place of residence as stated on the roll, or by sending the same addressed to him at such place through the post as a registered letter.

Registrars shall be exempt from the payment of any Court fees in respect of any proceedings under this Act, and are authorized to send registered letters free of charge in conformity with instructions to be issued by the Postmaster-General.

Any Registrar who shall knowingly and wilfully do any matter or thing contrary to the provisions of this Act, or who shall knowingly and wilfully omit to do any matter or thing required by this Act to be done by him, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.