The Short Title of this Act is “The Volunteer Act, 1881.”

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

The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Force, and shall have the power of convening general Courts-martial, and of confirming the sentences thereof, and of convening or 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 Volunteer Force, or any part thereof.

The Governor may from time to time appoint for the Volunteer Force a paid permanent staff and a commanding officer for a district, and also such other officers as he deems necessary in any district; and by regulations may prescribe the relative rank of such permanent staff.

He may in like manner revoke or vary any such appointments; and all persons so appointed shall be deemed to be officers or efficient Volunteers, as the case may require, for the purposes of this Act.

The Governor may from time to time constitute districts under this Act, and may define and alter or vary the boundaries thereof, and, until any such district shall be so constituted, the districts constituted under “The Militia Act, 1870,” shall be deemed to be districts under this Act.

The Governor shall from time to time appoint officers to inspect the Volunteer Force, and may revoke such appointments at pleasure. Any officer so appointed shall, while holding the same, be senior in rank to all officers of the Volunteer Force.

Commissions to officers shall be issued by the Governor under this Act in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty, under the Seal of the Colony.

The Governor may from time to time cancel or revoke such commissions.

The Governor may appoint officers for the several Volunteer corps, whose names shall be submitted to him by the corps to which such officers are proposed to be appointed: Provided that no names shall be so submitted unless they have been approved by not less than one-half of the enrolled members (being efficient Volunteers) of any such corps.

No person shall be an officer of the Volunteer Force, or a Volunteer, or a non-commissioned officer of the Volunteer permanent staff, unless be 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.

It shall not be competent for the Governor to confer a commission in the Volunteer Force on any person until such person shall have passed such an examination as may be prescribed by regulations.

Non-commissioned officers in the Volunteer Force shall be appointed and may be reduced as prescribed by regulations.

Every officer shall, on receiving his commission, and every Volunteer shall, on his enrolment in the muster-roll of his corps, or in either case as soon afterwards as may be, take the following oath of allegiance before some Justice of the Peace, or an officer of the corps who has taken such 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.

Commissions of officers of the Volunteer Force, and of every branch thereof respectively, 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.

All orders given by the Commander-in-Chief 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.

The production of an order in writing, purporting to be made according to the provisions of this Act, shall be primâ facie evidence of such order without proving the signature thereto, or the authority of the person making such order.

The Governor in Council may, from time to time, make, alter, and revoke regulations,—

and may appoint penalties for any breach of the provisions of this Act or of such regulations, not exceeding five pounds for each offence, or, in default of payment, imprisonment for any time not exceeding fourteen days for each offence.

All such regulations shall have the same force and effect as though they formed a part of this Act, and shall affect and govern all persons whom they may purport to affect and govern, whether in the Volunteer Force or in any part thereof or not: Provided that such regulations shall not be repugnant to the provisions of this Act.

Every Volunteer corps in existence at the date of the passing of this Act shall be deemed to have been formed, and all subsisting commissions and appointments in the Volunteer Force shall be deemed to have been issued and made, under and subject to this Act.

The Governor may accept the services of any persons desiring to be formed under this Act into a Volunteer corps, and upon such acceptance the proposed corps shall, be deemed lawfully formed under this Act as a Volunteer corps.

The Governor may form two or more Volunteer corps into a regiment or battalion in manner prescribed by regulations, and may appoint an officer to command the same, and may appoint such other officers, whether for financial or military administration, as he may deem expedient, and may revoke or cancel any such appointments, but so, nevertheless, that each separate corps shall be severally deemed a Volunteer corps for all the other purposes of this Act:

Provided that, in the absence of the officer appointed to command such regiment or battalion, the officer on duty next senior in rank shall take the command.

Upon the acceptance of the services of any Volunteer corps, and upon the formation of two or more corps into a regiment or other division, the Governor shall appoint some place to be the head-quarters of such corps, regiment, or other division.

Every Inspector appointed under this Act shall annually prepare a report of his proceedings, and of the efficiency and condition in all respects of each Volunteer corps inspected by him, which report shall be presented to each House of the General Assembly within fourteen days from the commencement of the session next following such inspection.

All certificates of efficiency shall be annual certificates. Every Volunteer holding three or more annual certificates given in succession shall be entitled to claim one year’s exemption from training and exercise in respect of each such certificate, but such exemption shall not deprive him of any of the rights and privileges which he would have been entitled to in case be had not claimed the same.

Volunteers holding such successive certificates of efficiency as aforesaid shall, during the continuance of exemption, be enrolled upon a reserve list, but shall remain upon the rolls of their respective corps, and be liable to be called out for inspection parades four times a year, at such times as the officer commanding the district shall appoint.

No capitation allowance shall be paid in respect of any Volunteer so long as he shall remain entered upon the reserve list.

If the officer commanding shall, on inspection, deem any Volunteer for the time being on such reserve list to be inefficient, from failing to keep up to the standard of drill, his exemption shall thenceforth cease.

With respect to the discipline of officers and Volunteers, the following provisions shall take effect and be in force while they are not on actual military service:—

The commanding officer of a Volunteer corps may suspend, and with the approval of the Commander-in-Chief first obtained may dismiss, any Volunteer and strike his name out of the muster roll, either for disobedience of orders by him while doing any military duty with his corps, or for neglect of duty or misconduct by him as a member of the corps, or for other sufficient cause, the existence and sufficiency of such causes respectively to be judged of by the Commander-in-Chief.

The Volunteer so dismissed shall, nevertheless, be liable to give up in good order, fair wear and tear only excepted, all arms, clothing, and appointments, being public property or property of his corps issued to him, and to pay all money due or becoming due by him under the rules of his corps, either before or at the time or by reason of his dismissal, but shall not be eligible to serve in any Volunteer corps thereafter.

If any officer of a Volunteer corps, or any Volunteer, while under arms or on march or duty, or while engaged in any military exercise or drill with such, and going to or returning from any place of exercise or assembly of such corps, disobeys any lawful order of any officer under whose command be then is, or is guilty of misconduct, the officer then in command may order the offender, if an officer, into arrest, and if not an officer, into the custody of any Volunteer belonging to the corps, but so that the offender be not kept in such arrest or custody longer than during the time of the corps, or such portion thereof as aforesaid, then remaining under arms or on march or duty, or assembled or continuing engaged in any such military exercise or drill as aforesaid.

Any Volunteer may, except when on actual military service, quit his corps on complying with the following conditions, viz.:—

Giving to the commanding officer of his corps three months’ notice in writing of his intention to quit the corps: But any Volunteer who may desire his discharge, for the purpose of leaving the district where be was enrolled, shall be entitled to receive the same upon giving one fortnight’s notice, and fulfilling the conditions hereinafter provided:

Provided that should any corps be called out for actual service, all persons then on the roll of the corps shall be liable to serve whether they shall have given such notice or not:

Delivering up in good order, fair wear and tear only excepted, all arms, clothing, and appointments, being public property or property of his corps issued to him:

Paying all money due or becoming due by him under the rules of his corps, either before or at the time or by reason of his quitting it:

And thereupon he shall cease to be a Volunteer.

The Governor may disband or discontinue the services of any Volunteer corps, or any part thereof, whenever it seems expedient for him so to do; and if any officer, non-commissioned officer, or Volunteer of such disbanded corps shall refuse to give up in good order, to such person as the Governor may direct, any article supplied to him as a Volunteer at the public expense, a sum of money equal to twice the cost price of such article or articles shall be recoverable from him, with costs, as a penalty under this Act is recoverable.

The officers and Volunteers belonging to a Volunteer corps may from time to time make, alter, or repeal rules—

Such rules and regulations may provide for the enforcement thereof against the several members of such corps by the imposition of fines, which fines may be recovered in a summary way, or by a civil action at the suit of the officer commanding such corps: Provided that no such fine shall in any one case exceed the sum of five pounds.

A copy of the rules, certified under the hand of the commanding officer as a true copy of the rules whereof the Governor’s approval has been obtained, shall be conclusive evidence of the rules of the corps.

Two or more Volunteer corps may, with the approval of the Governor, unite together to make rules for the appropriation of joint funds, and may vest such funds in trustees, to be applied for the benefit of such united corps; and such trustees shall have the power of sueing or being sued in respect of such trusts.

Where the property of a corps is not vested in trustees, the same, or such part thereof as shall not be so vested, shall be deemed to be vested in the commanding officer of such corps and his successors in office for all purposes of any proceeding, criminal or civil, at law or in equity, and shall for such purposes be deemed to be his property, and may be so laid in any such proceeding.

No such proceeding shall be discontinued by the death, resignation, or removal of a commanding officer, but the same may be proceeded in by the succeeding commanding officer.

Any money, or other real or personal property whatsoever, which at the time of the disbandment of any corps disbanded previous to the passing of this Act or hereafter to be disbanded was subject to any trust for the benefit of the corps, shall be disposed of by the person or persons in whom the same is vested as may be determined in manner hereinafter mentioned.

A meeting of the persons who were members of the disbanded corps at the time of the disbandment thereof shall be summoned by the last commanding officer of the corps, or, in the event of his death or absence from the colony, by the officer commanding the district to which the corps belonged, by advertisement in some paper circulating in the said district, such advertisement giving not less than fourteen days’ notice of the meeting, and stating the purpose thereof.

At such meeting a majority of such of the persons present who were members of the disbanded corps at the time of the disbandment thereof, and entitled to vote at its meetings, shall decide in what manner and for what purposes, public or private, the said money or property shall be disposed of.

There shall be paid out of moneys to be appropriated by the General Assembly for the benefit of the several Volunteer corps, after rates not exceeding the following:—

Subject to the provisions of this Act, any Volunteer corps may, with the assent of the Governor, purchase, take on lease, or otherwise acquire, any land or easement in land, for rifle or artillery practice, and for the erection of butts, targets, batteries, and other accommodations for the use of the corps when practising with rifles or artillery, or for the purpose of erecting and maintaining drill-sheds on any such land.

Before giving his assent to the purchase, lease, or other acquisition of any such land for the purposes aforesaid, the Governor shall ascertain that such land is suitable for such purposes, and shall give or withold his consent accordingly.

For the purposes of rifle or artillery practice, or for drill, a license to use any lands hereinafter mentioned may, with the consent of the Governor, be granted to any Volunteer corps as follows:—

In the case of Crown lands, by the Commissioner of Crown Lands of the land district;

In the case of other lands vested in Her Majesty, or in any corporate body, and not otherwise specifically reserved or set apart for any particular object or purpose, by the Governor, on behalf of Her Majesty, or by such corporate body, as the case may be:

Provided,—

That no such license shall be granted for a longer period than seven years, but any license when granted may be renewed by the same authority that has power to grant the same:

That in the event of any land to which such license relates ceasing to be used for the purposes of this Act, the license shall thereupon absolutely cease.

Any land in respect of which a license shall have been granted under this Act shall be deemed to have ceased to be used for the purposes of this Act where there has not been any such use by the corps to or for which the license was granted for a period of one year, and a certificate of the fact of such nonuser has been given by some officer of the permanent staff of the Volunteer Force; and such certificate shall be conclusive evidence of such fact as against all persons and in all Courts of Justice.

Where any lands purchased or leased, or any estate or interest therein acquired, under this Act, shall not be vested in a trustee or trustees on behalf of the corps, the same shall vest in the commanding officer of the corps for the time being and his successors in office, as hereinbefore provided, with power for him and his successors to sue, and to make any contracts, conveyances, or other assurances thereof, and do all other lawful things relating thereto.

The provisions of this Act shall be applicable to any land, or any estate or interest in land, heretofore purchased, leased, or acquired by any Volunteer corps for like purposes to those mentioned in the thirty-first section hereof, as fully and effectually as if such lands, or such estate or interest as aforesaid, had been purchased, leased, or acquired under this Act:

Provided that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to prejudicially affect any conveyance, mortgage, lease, contract, agreement, or other deed or instrument whatsoever executed, made, or entered into before the passing of this Act, and affecting or intended to affect any such land, or any estate or interest therein, as aforesaid.

The Governor may at any time call out for actual service any Volunteer corps, or any part thereof; and every officer and Volunteer belonging to any corps so called out shall be bound to assemble at such place as the Governor may direct, and shall remain on actual service until released by the Governor’s authority.

No member of the Volunteer Force shall, except with his own consent, or in case of emergency, be compelled to march to or serve at any place being distant more than twenty miles from the head-quarters of the corps to which he belongs.

Volunteers on actual service shall be paid and rationed at such rates, and after such scales, as the Governor may from time to time appoint, and no Volunteer shall be deemed to have been released from actual service, and struck off pay and rations, until his corps has been returned to the head-quarters thereof.

During the time when any Volunteer corps is on actual service, or in camps of exercise, the Army Discipline Act shall apply to and the powers thereby created shall be exercised by the officers and Volunteers of such corps:

Provided that no Volunteer shall be liable to any corporal punishment, except death or imprisonment, for any offence against the said Act.

The provisions of “The Military Pensions Act, 1866,” and “The Colonial Forces Courts-Martial Act, 1868,” shall extend and apply to the persons serving in any Volunteer Force under this Act.

The arms and accoutrements of every officer of the Volunteer Force, and of every Volunteer, and the horses used by any of the same while serving in the Volunteer corps in discharge of their duties as members of such corps, shall be exempt from seizure in execution, and from distress and assessment of every kind.

Any duty or toll leviable at any pier, wharf, quay, landing-place, ferry, or bridge, 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 Volunteer Force, or any Volunteer, 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 in uniform:

Any horse, when ridden or used by any such officer or Volunteer on march or duty, or going or returning as aforesaid:

Any cart, wagon, or carriage, public or private, employed only in carrying or conveying any such officer or Volunteer, being on march or duty, or going or returning as aforesaid, and being in uniform, with or without any conductor or driver of such cart, wagon, or carriage, or domestic servant of such officer or Volunteer:

Any cart, wagon, 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 such officer or Volunteer, being on march or duty, or going to or returning from the place appointed for exercise, inspection, review, or other public duty, or any provisions or military stores belonging to or for the use of or any gun belonging to or used by the Volunteer Force, or any part thereof:

Any horse or other animal drawing any such cart, wagon, or carriage, as aforesaid, or any artillery.

If any person knowingly demands or takes any duty or toll in contravention of the present section, or if any person makes any false representation respecting himself or any other person, or any animal or thing, with intent to obtain for himself or otherwise, or fraudulently obtain for himself or otherwise, any exemption under the present section, he shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

If any person belonging or having belonged to a Volunteer corps neglects or refuses to pay any money subscribed or undertaken to be paid by him towards any of the funds or expenses of such corps, or due under the rules of such corps, and actually payable by him, or to pay any fine incurred by him under the rules of such corps, such money or fine shall, without prejudice to any other remedy, be recoverable from him, with costs, at any time within twelve months after the same becomes due and payable, as a penalty is recoverable, or by a civil action at the suit of the commanding officer of such corps, and when recovered shall be applied as part of the general fund of the corps.

If any person designedly makes away with, sells, pawns, wrongfully destroys, wrongfully damages, or negligently loses anything issued to him as a Volunteer, or wrongfully refuses or wrongfully neglects to deliver up on demand anything issued to him as a Volunteer, the value thereof shall be recoverable from him with costs as a penalty is recoverable, or in a civil action at the suit of the commanding officer of the corps to which such Volunteer belongs.

And he shall also for every such offence of designedly making away with, selling, pawning, or wrongfully destroying as aforesaid, be liable on the prosecution of the commanding officer of the corps issuing the thing made away with, sold, pawned, or destroyed, to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

If any person knowingly buys or takes in pawn or exchange from any Volunteer, or any person acting on his behalf, or solicits or entices any Volunteer to sell or pawn, or knowingly assists or acts for any Volunteer in selling or pawning, or has in his possession or keeping without satisfactorily accounting for, any arms, clothing, or appointments, being public property or property of any Volunteer corps, or any public stores or ammunition issued for the use of any such corps, be shall—

On the first commission by him of any such offence, be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds; and shall

On a second and every other subsequent commission by him of any such offence, and on being convicted thereof in the like course of proceeding as that in which any such penalty is recoverable, be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds or less than five pounds, with or without imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months with or without hard labour.

The Justices before whom any person is convicted of any offence under the last preceding section shall transmit the conviction to the Resident Magistrate’s Court at or nearest to the place where the conviction is had, there to be kept by the Clerk of such Court.

On the prosecution of any person for any subsequent offence under the last preceding section a copy of such conviction, certified by the Clerk of the Resident Magistrate’s Court or proved to be a true copy, shall be sufficient evidence to prove a conviction for the former offence; and such conviction shall be presumed not to have been quashed on appeal until the contrary is shown.

If any person wilfully commits any damage to any butt or target belonging to or lawfully used by any Volunteer corps, or without the leave of the commanding officer of the corps searches for bullets in or otherwise disturbs the soil forming such butt or target, he shall for every such offence be liable, on the prosecution of the commanding officer, to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.

If any officer or Volunteer belonging to the Volunteer Force knowingly and wilfully gives any false certificate, or makes any false statement or return respecting or in relation to any matter or thing required by this Act or any regulations made thereunder or connected with the Volunteer Force, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Any person who wilfully contravenes this Act, or any regulations, when no other penalty is imposed for such contravention, shall thereby incur a penalty not exceeding ten pounds for each offence, but this shall not prevent his being indicted and punished for any greater offence if the facts amount to such.

Any pecuniary penalty, duly inflicted under this Act, shall not in any way be released or invalidated on account of the person upon whom such penalty was inflicted having ceased to belong to the Volunteer Force.

All penalties incurred under this Act, or under any regulations, shall be recoverable in a summary way, as provided by “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1866,” as follows: —

Before one Justice of the Peace if the amount does not exceed five pounds: (2.) Before two Justices of the Peace if the amount exceeds that sum.

Any officer of the Volunteer Force, or any Volunteer, shall be a competent witness in any such case, although the penalty is applicable to the purposes of the corps to which he belongs.

The commanding officer of any corps may appear in any Court, or before any Justice of the Peace, by any officer or non-commissioned officer of such corps, or any member of the permanent staff, or by a solicitor, authorized in writing under the hand of such commanding officer.

The production of a writing purporting to be signed by such commanding officer shall be primâ facie evidence that the same has been so signed.

Any pecuniary penalty recovered under this Act, or any regulations, on the prosecution of the commanding officer of a Volunteer corps, shall be paid to the commanding officer, and be applied as part of the general fund of the corps.

A summary conviction or adjudication under this Act, 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 or prosecution against any officer or Volunteer for anything done or purporting to be 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, except as is provided under section forty-two of this Act:

In any such action the defendant may plead the general issue, and give the Act and this special matter in evidence at the trial, 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 nonsuited, 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 solicitor and client, and shall have the same remedy therefor as any defendant hath in other cases; 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 certifies his approbation of the action and verdict therein.

Wherever in any Act now in force reference is made to any Act hereby repealed, such first-mentioned Act shall take effect and operate, so far as it may not be inconsistent with or repugnant hereto, and as if this Act had been referred to in such first-mentioned Act instead of such repealed Act.

The Acts enumerated in the Schedule hereto are hereby repealed.

But all Orders in Council and regulations relating to the Volunteer Force made under any Act hereby repealed and in force at the commencement of this Act shall continue in force as if the same had respectively been made under this Act.