The members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen in every electoral district appointed for that purpose by the votes of the inhabitants of New Zealand who shall possess within the district the qualifications defined by this Act, that is to say,—

Every person of the age of twenty-one years or upwards having, of his own right, and not as a trustee, a freehold estate in possession situated within any electoral district of the value of twenty-five pounds, whether subject to incumbrances or not, and of or to which he has been seised or entitled either at law or in equity for at least six months next before the registration of his vote, and is not registered in respect of a freehold or residential qualification in the same or any other district, is entitled (subject to the provisions of this Act) to be registered as an elector and to vote at an election of members for such district for the House of Representatives; or

Every person of the age of twenty-one years or upwards who has resided for one year in the colony and in the electoral district for which he claims to vote during the three months immediately preceding the registration of his vote, and is not registered in respect of a freehold or residential qualification for the same or any other district, is entitled (subject to the provisions of this Act) to be registered as an elector and to vote at the election of members for such district for the House of Representatives; but

No person shall be entitled to be registered on more than one electoral roll within the colony whatever the number or nature of the qualifications he may possess or wherever they may be.

Maoris as defined in Part V. of this Act shall not be qualified to be registered as electors under Part II. of this Act, but shall be qualified to vote at elections of Maori members, as hereinafter provided in Part V. of this Act.

But it shall be competent for any Maori who is seised in severalty of a freehold estate of the value of twenty-five pounds, whether subject to encumbrances or not, and for any male or female half-caste who is possessed of a qualification under section six of this Act, to apply to be registered under Part II. of this Act, and he may be so registered; but, in such case, he shall not be qualified to vote at any election held under Part V. of this Act.

Every claim and declaration to be made by a Maori, or a male or female half-caste, to be registered under Part II. of this Act shall be made in manner specified in section nineteen of this Act.

No alien, lunatic, or person of unsound mind, nor any person attainted or convicted of any treason felony, or of any offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or upwards within any part of Her Majesty’s dominions, or convicted within the colony as a public defaulter, or under “The Police Offences Act, 1881,” as an idle and disorderly person or as a rogue and vagabond, unless such person shall have received a free pardon, or shall have undergone the sentence or punishment to which he shall have been adjudged for such offence, shall be entitled to be registered.

The name of every person disqualified as aforesaid shall be erased from every electoral roll.

Nothing in this section or in any other section of this Act contained shall be construed in any way to limit, annul, or repeal any provisions of “The Disqualification Act, 1878,” or of any other Act of a like tenor or to the same purpose.

Every man registered as an elector, and not coming within the meaning of the last-preceding section of this Act, but no other man, is qualified to be elected a member of the House of Representatives for any electoral district:

Provided that any man duly qualified as an elector, and who has been registered on any electoral roll, but whose name has become removed from such roll through no fault of his own, shall not, by reason only of not being registered as an elector, be disqualified from becoming a candidate and being elected for any electoral district. But in every such case the said man shall send to the Returning Officer, at the time when be sends his consent to be nominated, a statutory declaration to the effect that he is not disqualified as an elector for the district in respect whereof he was previously registered under the provisions of this Act or any other Act, that he still retains such qualification, and that his name has been removed from the roll of the aforesaid district through no fault of his own.

No woman, although duly registered as an elector, shall be capable of being nominated as a candidate, or of being elected a member of the House of Representatives, or of being appointed to the Legislative Council; and every nomination-paper of a woman as a candidate shall be absolutely void and of no effect, and shall be rejected by the Returning Officer without question.

Any member of the House of Representatives ceasing to be on the register as an elector shall not from that cause only be disqualified from sitting as a member.

Every person who shall not be disqualified by some provision hereof, or of some other Act in force, and who under subsection one or two of section six or under section seven of this Act is qualified to be registered as an elector for any district, and derives his qualification in the district to which his claim relates, shall (subject to the provisions of this Act) be entitled to have his name inserted and retained upon a roll to be made hereunder for such district; and, unless his name is already on the roll, shall for such purpose deliver or send by post to the Registrar of the said district, at any time after the commencement of this Act, a claim and declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule hereto.

Every person who is entitled to be registered as an elector in one or more districts in respect of one or more qualifications shall, at the time of making his application for registration, choose the district and the qualification in respect of which respectively he will be registered, and shall frame his claim accordingly.

Every person who at the commencement of this Act is to his knowledge registered as an elector in respect of one or more qualifications in more districts than one, and who under the provisions of section eleven is entitled to have his name retained on the rolls for such districts, shall, within forty days next after the aforesaid commencement, choose the district and the qualification in respect of which respectively be elects to continue to be registered, and within the aforesaid time shall notify the Registrar of such district that he desires his name to be retained on the roll of the said district; and such Registrar shall inform all Registrars of districts on the rolls of which he shall notice the name of the person sending him such notification of the fact of such notification, and such Registrars shall thereupon delete from the rolls of their districts the name of such person.

And any person as aforesaid who, knowing his name to be on more than one roll, fails to give the notice hereby required to be given to any Registrar within the time mentioned in this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and shall not be entitled to vote at any election so long as he knowingly allows his name to remain on more than one roll.

Whenever any person who so name is on the roll of any district in respect of a residential qualification has removed therefrom and resided in another district for one month he may have his name transferred on to the electoral roll in respect of a residential qualification in the district to which he has removed, if he shall deliver or send by post to the Registrar thereof a claim or declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the Second Schedule hereto.

If any person who is registered in respect of a residential or non-residential qualification in any district, having a sufficient non-residential qualification in any other district, desires to have his name transferred on to the electoral roll of such other district in respect of such last-mentioned non-residential qualification, he may for such purpose deliver or send by post to the Registrar of the district wherein he wishes to be registered a written claim and declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the Third Schedule hereto.

If any person who is registered in respect of a residential or non-residential qualification, having a sufficient non-residential or residential qualification in the same district, desires to be registered in respect of one of the last-mentioned qualifications, he shall for such purposes send a written application to the Registrar, who, if satisfied that the claimant possesses the qualification, may at any time correct the roll by erasing the nature of the claimant’s qualification as stated therein, and inserting thereon the qualification the claimant desires to be so inserted.

Every Registrar who inserts the name of any person on the roll in respect of any claim made under sections fourteen or fifteen of this Act shall indorse on such claim the words “Registered in the Electoral District of [name of district],” and shall sign and date the same, and forthwith transmit the same to the Registrar of the district where the claimant was previously registered, who shall forthwith erase the name of such person from the roll of such last-mentioned district, and append his initials to the erasure, and, having indorsed the claim with a note of such erasure, shall return the claim to the Registrar from whom be received it, for filing in his office.

No person who is registered in respect of a residential qualification in any district shall be deemed to have left the district and forfeited his qualification therein by reason only of absence from the district, unless be is registered in respect of any qualification in any other district.

But no such person as aforesaid shall be entitled to vote in respect of his residential qualification at any election for the district in which he is registered unless at some time within the six months immediately previous to the election be has been actually and bonâ fide resident therein for not less than six days either separately or continuously.

Every person making any claim, application, or declaration under this Act shall sign the same with his Christian name and surname in full, together with his place of abode, in the presence of the Registrar or Deputy-Registrar of the district, or a Justice of the Peace, or Postmaster, or an elector of the district, and transmit such claim as aforesaid to the Registrar.

The situation of the property, if any, or locality of residence, in respect of which registration is claimed must be specified in such manner as to enable it to be easily and clearly identified.

The claim, application, or declaration must be signed by the claimant, applicant, or declarant with his own hand, or, if he cannot write, his mark must be attested by a Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, or Registrar.

And the Registrar shall reject as informal every such document which is not complete in all particulars and duly signed as herein required.

Every Registrar of Births and Deaths shall, during the first twenty-one days of the month of January in every year, furnish to the Registrar of every electoral district any part whereof is comprised in the registry district for which he is such Registrar of Births and Deaths a correct list of all deaths of adult persons of twenty-one years and upwards which have been registered by him during the twelve months ended on the thirty-first day of December then last past, stating in such list the residence, occupation, and age at the time of death of each person returned on such list.

The Registrar of every such electoral district shall place the word “dead” against the name of every person on the roll who is named on any list of deaths above mentioned, and shall remove the name of every such person from the roll.

As soon as conveniently may be after the commencement of this Act, and thereafter—

In every third year, at such time as the Governor may prescribe after or during the last session of Parliament previous to its dissolution or expiry, and before the taking effect of any report of the Commissioners constituting new electoral districts under “The Representation Act, 1887.”

Every Registrar shall prepare, according to the form or to the effect in the Fourth Schedule hereto, a new roll for the electoral district of which he is Registrar, by placing thereon the names, arranged in alphabetical order of the surnames, of all persons whose names shall then be upon any general or supplementary electoral roll for the corresponding district then last previously existing, and of all persons who have, up to the time of preparing the new roll, preferred claims to be registered as electors for such district, and have not been objected to, and are not included in any such general or supplementary roll, and shall take care that the name of any person shall not appear twice or oftener on such list; and when such last-mentioned district has been apportioned into two or more districts, then the Registrar shall include for each district for which he is Registrar only the names of those persons on any such electoral roll whose qualifications are within the area of each district respectively.

And the Registrar shall, in making out such new roll, state therein, from the said claims respectively, the several particulars regarding each person required in and by the said Schedule.

The electoral rolls in force on the day of the aforesaid commencement, or of the Governor’s notification prescribing the time for the formation of new rolls, as the case may be, shall be the rolls from which the new rolls shall be formed.

Where the boundaries of any electoral district, on the constitution of new districts as aforesaid, are the same as existing immediately prior to such constitution taking effect, the electoral roll then in force for such district shall be deemed to have been formed under this section.

Upon the above-mentioned new electoral rolls being formed, every such Registrar as aforesaid shall give notice thereof to the Colonial Secretary, who shall publish the fact in the Gazette, but not until the aforesaid report of the Commissioners has taken effect; and from and after the day of the gazetting of such notice the electoral roll so formed for each district shall be the electoral roll for such district for all purposes.

Every electoral district constituted under any report of the Commissioners aforesaid shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have been constituted six months prior to the date when such report takes effect.

All electoral districts existing, and all electoral rolls in force, at the time of any division of the colony into electoral districts under "The Representation Act, 1887,” shall continue in existence and in force respectively until the dissolution or expiration of the Parliament in being at the time when such division is made: Provided, however, that at any time before such dissolution or expiration all appointments may be made and all things done which may be necessary for or towards preparing and compiling or printing the rolls for the electoral districts to come into existence on the said dissolution or expiration, but so that such rolls shall not take legal effect until the said dissolution or expiration.

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 person to have his name retained upon the roll.

It shall be the duty of the Registrar, during the fifteen days following the receipt of any claim for registration as an elector, 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 twenty-one 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, who shall forthwith issue a summons, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Fifth Schedule hereto.

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 the claimant 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 Registrar may object to the name of any person being retained on the roll, 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 Sixth Schedule hereto.

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 Registrar, in the form or to the effect specified in the Sixth Schedule hereto, setting forth the objection and grounds thereof; and if the Registrar considers the objection reasonable he shall forthwith give notice in writing to the person objected to setting forth the objection and the grounds thereof.

If, in any notice of objection given to the Registrar, as mentioned in the last-preceding section, the objection be that the person objected to has been convicted of any of the offences mentioned in section eight of this Act, the objector shall specify in his notice of objection the Court and the approximate date at which the conviction was had, and, if not so specified, the objection shall not be entertained.

The Registrar, upon receiving a copy of any such last-mentioned objection, shall inquire into the truth of such conviction from the Registrar or Clerk of the Court where the person objected to is stated to have been convicted, who shall either contradict the statement or furnish to the such first-mentioned Registrar a certificate, under the seal of the Court, of such conviction, which shall be sufficient warrant to him to erase from the electoral roll the name of the person so certified to have been convicted.

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, or satisfy the Registrar that he is entitled to have his name retained on the roll, the Registrar may apply to a Resident Magistrate or a Justice of the Peace for a summons, who shall forthwith issue a summons, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Seventh Schedule hereto.

If at the time and place appointed for the hearing 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 person objected to shall be required to prove his claim to have his name retained on the roll, and 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.

No notice of objection to the name of any person on the roll of any district shall be entertained which is not served upon the person objected to in sufficient time to admit of such objection being determined by a Resident Magistrate before the issue of a writ for any election in such district; and the name of the person so objected to shall not be removed from the roll, notwithstanding such objection, until the objection has been determined by a Resident Magistrate.

Any Resident Magistrate may sit at any Resident Magistrate’s Court held in any part of the colony for hearing and determining claims and objections to names on the electoral roll of any district, notwithstanding that such Resident Magistrate may not be appointed as Resident Magistrate for such district.

No sitting of a Resident Magistrate’s Court shall be held for the revision of any roll for any district, or for hearing objections to any name thereon, after the issue of a writ for the election of a member for such district, until the completion of the said election.

In any case, however, where any election is to be held in any district, any Resident Magistrate may hold a special sitting of such Court within any period not later than four days after the issue of a writ for such election, for the purpose only of hearing and inquiring into the validity of any new claims for registration which may have been received by the Registrar within the fifteen days immediately prior to the issue of the said writ, but for no other purpose.

If any such claims to vote shall be proved, the Magistrate shall order the Registrar to place the names of such claimants, in consecutive order as their claims are respectively decided, upon an extra supplementary roll for the district, and not upon the general roll of the district, and such extra roll shall be printed forthwith as a roll separate from the general or ordinary supplementary roll, but nevertheless shall be deemed to form part of such general roll.

The Registrar, or, if he be unavoidably prevented, some person on his behalf, shall attend the Court and shall produce to the said Court all books, lists, papers, and documents connected with his office which shall be in the custody of the Registrar or under his control, and relating to any case to be heard before the Court.

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.”

Any summons issued under this Part of this Act may be served by the Bailiff of the Court or his assistant, or by any other person the Resident Magistrate or Justice of the Peace may direct.

The summons may be served by delivering the same to the person to whom it is addressed, or by leaving the same at his place of residence as stated on the roll, or by sending the same by registered letter through the post, as hereinafter mentioned in section forty-eight.

If any person upon whom a summons is required to be served is unknown, or cannot after due inquiry be found, the summons may be sent to him or her by a registered “Electoral Notice-letter” through the post, as hereinafter mentioned in section forty-nine of this Act.

The service of the summons may be proved by oath or affirmation at the hearing, or by affidavit or declaration made before a solicitor of the Supreme Court or the Clerk of any Resident Magistrate’s Court or a Justice of the Peace, or by producing the post-office receipt for a registered letter addressed to the person upon whom the summons is to be served.

In any such proceedings before any Resident Magistrate the Registrar or any person objected to may appear and act personally, or by an agent appointed in writing by person objected to, or by a barrister or solicitor of the Supreme Court holding a certificate to practise.

Every Resident Magistrate holding any Court under this Act in any electoral district shall have power to adjourn the same from time to time, by advertisement or otherwise in manner as he shall think sufficiently public.

If from any cause the Resident Magistrate is not present at the time and place appointed for holding any Court under this Act, nor within two hours after such time, the holding of such Court shall be deemed to be postponed to the same hour on the following day as the hour originally appointed, and so from day to day, not exceeding three days in any case.

But no such adjourned Court shall be held after the issue of a writ for an election in such district until the completion of such election.

The Magistrate may at any time before the hearing of objections erase from the roll the name of any person thereon who, by writing under his hand attested before a Justice of the Peace, or Postmaster, or elector of the district, has given previous notice to the Registrar, or states to the Magistrate in Court, that he consents to his name being so removed; and no costs shall be made against such person in respect of any act or thing done in the matter of the objection after such notice given or statement made.

The Resident Magistrate shall, upon the ex parte application by the Registrar or any other person, direct the Registrar to correct any mistake which shall be proved to the Court to have been made in any roll, and to insert in the electoral roll the name of any person who may have proved his claim to be enrolled thereon, or to expunge therefrom—

Every name which shall be proved to him to be fictitious; and also

The name of every person who is objected to and who shall be proved, to the satisfaction of the Resident Magistrate, to be included in the electoral roll of any other district; and also

The name of every person who is objected to and who has lost or parted with his qualification, or whose qualification as stated in such roll shall be insufficient to entitle such person to vote; and also any of several qualifications of any one person which, as stated in such roll, shall be insufficient as aforesaid; and also

The name of every person who is included in any such roll wherever his name or place of abode, or the nature or description of his qualification, shall, in the judgment of the Resident Magistrate, be insufficiently described for the purpose of being identified; and

The Resident Magistrate shall be at liberty to direct—

The description of any qualification as it appears in the roll to be changed, in so far as may be necessary for the purpose of more clearly or accurately defining the same; or

The nature of any qualification to be changed, when a person has lost or parted with his qualification, but retains another in the same district sufficient to entitle him to vote therein.

Notwithstanding anything herein contained, the Resident Magistrate may, if he thinks fit, postpone the dealing with any such ex parte application as aforesaid until notice of the said application has been given to the person to be affected thereby.

The Registrar shall at any time, except during the interval between the issue of a writ and the completion of an election in the district, expunge from any roll of the district—

The name of every person who requests, in writing, that his name shall be removed therefrom; and

The name of every person appearing on the annual list of deaths supplied to the Registrar by any Registrar of Births and Deaths of whose identity he shall be satisfied; and

The name of every person who is disqualified under "The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1881,” and whose name appears on the illegal and corrupt practices list (if any) made out as provided in the last-mentioned Act; and

The name of every person whose conviction of any offence mentioned in section eight of this Act shall be duly certified to him; and

The name of every person whose registration in any other district shall be notified to him by the Registrar thereof; and

The name of every person who, not being a candidate at an election occurring in the district at which a poll was taken, and not being prohibited by law from voting at such election, appears, from the certified electoral roll transmitted by the Returning Officer of the district, as hereinafter mentioned, not to have voted at such election.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Registrar, on being satisfied that the name of any person has been omitted or expunged from any roll by mistake, or clerical error, or through false information, may restore the name of such person to the roll at any time and after the issue of a writ, but not later than ten clear days before the day appointed in the writ for the poll to be taken.

The Registrar shall at any time expunge from any roll of the district the name of every person who is enrolled thereon, and who shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar to have left such district; and it shall not be necessary to summon to Court any person whose name is so expunged.

But no name as last mentioned shall be so removed until the expiration of six months after the time or the approximate time when such person is proved to have left the district, or until after the return by the Post Office of a registered electoral notice-letter as mentioned in section forty-nine of this Act, addressed to such person in the district, unless the retention of the name of the said person on the said roll is objected to and such objection is sustained, in which case the Registrar shall remove such name forthwith.

The name of any person on the roll who is absent from the colony for more than twelve months at any one time, although not objected to, shall nevertheless, by reason of such absence, be expunged from the roll; but on the return of such person to the colony be shall, on application to the Registrar, be entitled to have his name entered forthwith on the aforesaid roll if still possessed of the qualification in respect whereof be was previously registered on such roll.

The Registrar shall write his initials against the names expunged, and against any part of the roll in which any mistake is corrected, or any omission supplied, or any insertion made by him.

A name shall be deemed to be removed from the roll 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.

Except as specially provided in section thirty-three of this Act, and notwithstanding anything in this Act contained, it shall not be lawful for any Registrar, either by virtue of any authority conferred upon him by this Act or by direction of a Resident Magistrate, to insert on or to remove from the roll of any electoral district the name of any person, after the issue of a writ for the election of a member for the said district, until the completion of the said election.

Every Registrar who offends against the provisions of this section is liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds for every name added to or removed from the roll in contravention of the said provisions.

Any summons, notice, or document 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 to such residence through the post by registered letter, the postage and registration-fees thereon being first paid.

Any notice or any summons required to be sent, delivered, or served upon any person may be sent through the post by registered letter, the postage and registration-fees being first paid, marked on the outside “Electoral Notice-letter,” addressed to the person to or upon whom such notice or summons is required to be sent, delivered, or served; and the sending of such notice or summons in manner aforesaid shall be sufficient service.

If any letter marked as aforesaid is not claimed, notice of the said letter being at the post-office for delivery shall be sent to the other post-offices in the same electoral district, and posted on a notice-board at the said post-offices.

Where any notice or summons is sent by registered letter marked as aforesaid through the post, addressed to any person at his place of residence as stated on the roll, with a special request that such letter may be returned to the sender at the expiration of thirty days if the person to whom the letter is addressed cannot be found, the return of such letter by the Post Office shall be deemed sufficient proof that the aforesaid person has quitted such place of residence.

The post-office receipt for an “electoral notice-letter” shall be evidence of the posting thereof, but not of its contents.

The names of electors struck off the roll shall be publicly exhibited on a board outside the Registrar’s office, and maintained there for a period of at least one month from the time of their being struck off.

The Registrar shall cause the names on the general roll of the district to be copied and printed according to the form in the Fourth Schedule, with the names placed thereon in alphabetical order of surnames, and numbered consecutively, commencing with the number one; and shall sign a sufficient number of such rolls for record and for the use of the Returning Officers within such district.

After the first formation of a general roll names shall be numbered on the supplementary roll or rolls consecutively, in alphabetical order, commencing with the number immediately following the number affixed to the last preceding name on the roll, whether a general or a supplementary roll.

Each printed roll so formed, added to, or altered from time to time as aforesaid, and signed by the Registrar, shall for the time being be the electoral roll for the district, and be called, according to the tenor thereof, the “general roll” or the “supplementary roll” for the district.

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

At any time after the first roll of any district is formed as hereinbefore provided, whenever not less than one hundred names are added to any roll, a new roll shall be formed by inserting therein the additional names in alphabetical order, and may be reprinted; and thereafter the general roll may be reprinted every year with the additional names inserted therein as aforesaid; but it shall be lawful at any time, instead of reprinting the general roll, to print a supplementary roll thereto, according to the form aforesaid.

A supplementary roll shall be printed immediately previous to a general election occurring in the interval between the taking effect of any two consecutive reports of the Representation Commission, or when a vacancy shall occur in the representation of any district; and an extra supplementary roll, formed under section thirty-three of this Act, shall be printed as soon as possible after the issue of the writ for the election.

The roll of every district shall be kept in duplicate at some convenient office or offices within the district, 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 in such newspaper circulating in the district as he may deem best adapted to give full publicity to the same; 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 each day of the week during office hours.

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

Any person desirous of inspecting the claims of persons to be registered, which claims have not yet been put on the roll, shall be entitled to do so at the same time and place as the inspection of roll provided for in the foregoing section.

Any person shall be entitled to a copy of any printed general roll, together with all its supplements as one roll, at the price of one shilling.

There shall be kept at each post-office in every district, excepting in the towns wherein the duplicate copies of the rolls are kept, as mentioned in section fifty-four of this Act, one copy of every printed general roll of such district and its supplements, for reference by the public in manner as provided in section fifty-five of this Act.

Copies of every roll of a district, with all emendations thereof, certified by the Registrar, shall be supplied by him to the several Returning Officers in the district, as the same may be required from time to time for the purposes of conducting any election in the district.

No roll or other document shall be invalidated by reason only that it shall not have been printed, kept, or published in the place or manner or for the time herein required for such purposes respectively, nor by reason of any error in the copying or printing of the same.

No misnomer or inaccurate description of any person, place, or thing named or described in any electoral roll permitted or required to be made under this Act, or in any notice required by this Act, shall in anywise prevent or abridge the operation of this Act with respect to such person, place, or thing: Provided that such person, place, or thing shall be so designated in such roll or notice as to be commonly understood.

Every duly-registered elector whose name appears on the electoral roll of any district, who is a seaman or commercial traveller, as herein respectively defined, and not disqualified by any law for the time being in force, shall be entitled to receive an elector’s right in virtue of his registration as aforesaid, and for such purpose shall appear personally before the Registrar for the electoral district for which he is enrolled, and in his presence shall make and sign a claim and declaration to the effect in the Form A of the Eighth Schedule hereto.

The Registrar, on being satisfied that the claimant is duly enrolled as an elector of the district,—

Shall fill up an elector’s right in the Form B in the Eighth Schedule hereto, purporting to entitle such claimant to vote as a seaman or commercial traveller, as may be the case, at elections of members to serve in the House of Representatives for such district, in the manner provided by this Act, and, having placed a number thereon, which shall be a consecutive number in arithmetical series, beginning with the number one, through the whole series of rights issued by such Registrar, shall deliver the same to the claimant; and

Shall write opposite to the name of the claimant, on the roll of the district, the words “Seaman’s [or Commercial traveller’s] electoral right issued;” shall, if the claimant is a seaman, erase from the said roll any other qualification in respect whereof such claimant is registered, and shall initial such entry and erasure and insert the date of the issue of such right and the number of such right; but he shall not erase the qualification of any person who claims as a commercial traveller.

No elector’s right issued to a commercial traveller shall be in force for any period exceeding four months from the date of the issue thereof.

The said Registrar shall forthwith after the issue of a writ for an election transmit to the Returning Officer of the district a list of all electors’ rights issued to seamen and commercial travellers, together with the original applications, signed by them respectively, for the said rights, and the Returning Officer shall keep the said applications for the purpose of verification of signatures as hereinafter mentioned.

No person to whom an elector’s right is issued as aforesaid shall be entitled to vote at any election for the district where the said right was issued unless be produces his elector’s right and has the same indorsed as hereinafter provided.

Every person being the holder of an elector’s right issued to him for any district shall be qualified, by virtue of such right, to vote in any part of the colony at an election of a member or members of the House of Representatives for the aforesaid district, and, for such purpose,—

Shall apply in person, at any time after the issue of a writ for an election in such district, and before the hour of closing the poll on the polling-day, if a seaman, to the Collector of Customs at any port; if a commercial traveller, to the Postmaster at any post-office; and produce to him his elector’s right, and sign an application in the Form C in the Eighth Schedule hereto for a ballot-paper in respect of the aforesaid district.

The Collector or Postmaster, as may be the case, shall thereupon fill up a blank ballot-paper (which need not be in the form of a ballot-paper as provided by this Act) with the names of the candidates of such district, and shall then write upon the bottom of the left-hand corner of the back of the ballot-paper his initials and the number of the elector’s right produced to him in respect of which the ballot-paper is given, and, after securing the said corner by gum or otherwise, shall sign his name near such corner, together with the name of his office, and shall give the same to the voter, who shall, without leaving the room, erase in pencil or in ink the name or names of the candidate or candidates for whom be does not wish to vote, and, having folded the paper so that the contents cannot be seen, shall return it to the Collector or Postmaster, who shall in the presence of the voter enclose the ballot-paper in an envelope addressed to the Returning Officer of the district for which the vote is exercised, and, having closed the envelope, shall enclose the first envelope, together with the aforesaid application of the voter for a ballot-paper, in a second envelope similarly addressed, and shall forthwith post it to its address.

The Collector or Postmaster shall then indorse the elector’s right with a note of the exercise thereof, and shall sign and date the same, and then return it to the voter.

Every such letter shall go free by post.

In the event of any such seaman or commercial traveller applying for a ballot-paper for any district after the issue of a writ, but before the names of the candidates have been published, the Collector or Postmaster shall prepare a blank ballot-paper as aforesaid, excepting the names of the candidates, and give such blank ballot-paper to the applicant, who may write thereon the name of any person for whom he may wish to vote in case of his becoming a candidate, and, having folded the paper so that the contents cannot be seen, shall return it to the Collector or Postmaster, who shall deal with such ballot-paper in the manner herein provided in all respects.

Every Collector and Postmaster shall telegraph to the Returning Officer of every district day by day from the day of the issue of the writ to the day of the closing of the poll at an election the number of ballot-papers applied for, exercised, and transmitted by him to such Returning Officer, together with the number on each elector’s right in respect whereof the said ballot-papers were issued by him.

The Returning Officer, on receiving such telegram, shall place against the name of every person on the roll to whom a ballot-paper has been issued as aforesaid a note indicating that such person has voted or has proposed to vote.

Every Returning Officer, on receiving a ballot-paper transmitted to him as in this section mentioned, shall compare the signature of the voter, in his application for a ballot-paper transmitted to him by the Collector or Postmaster, with the signature on the original application for an elector’s right made by such voter transmitted to him by the Registrar of the district, and, if he finds the signatures to be identical, shall allow the vote and have it duly recorded, and shall put the ballot-paper into the ballot-box at the principal polling place; but if he finds the signature dissimilar, shall reject the ballot-paper as informal.

Every ballot-paper exercised in virtue of an elector’s right which has been cancelled or has expired shall be rejected by the Returning Officer to whom it is transmitted.

And every ballot-paper given in favour of any person who has not been duly nominated shall be rejected as informal by the Returning Officer.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the last-preceding section, every seaman as aforesaid who at the time of any election for the district where an elector’s right has been issued to him shall be present within such district may vote therein by applying to and producing to any Returning Officer the elector’s right issued to him; and the Returning Officer, on being satisfied that the applicant is entitled to vote at such election, shall, after marking a ballot-paper, as in ordinary cases, give such ballot-paper to the voter, and, having indorsed the elector’s right, as mentioned in the last-preceding section, shall return it to such voter.

Every person to whom an elector’s right has been issued as a commercial traveller, if present during the time of an election in the district for which such right was issued, shall, if the said right be unexpired, on surrender thereof to the Returning Officer be entitled to vote in the said district in virtue of his registration on the roll for such district, but not otherwise.

Every person who loses his electoral right shall, on personal application to the Registrar of the district from whom be received it, and making the declaration in the Form D in the Eighth Schedule hereto, and on payment to him of the sum of two shillings, be entitled to have a duplicate of such right granted to him.

Every master of a ship which happens to be in any port of the colony at the time of any general or by-election for any district, at the request of any of the crew being electors at such election for such district, and on production of their respective elector’s right in respect of the said election, shall allow such person or persons to go ashore at a proper time to admit of their voting for such election; and every master unreasonably refusing to permit any of his crew to vote is liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment with hard labour for a period not exceeding one month.

The erasure, under the provisions of this Act, of the name of any person who is the holder of an elector’s right from the roll of the district wherein he was registered shall ipso facto annul and cancel the elector’s right issued to such person by virtue of the aforesaid registration; but in the event of such person being again registered, either in the same or in any other district, he may obtain a new elector’s right under the provisions of this Part of this Act.

The Governor, by warrant under his hand, shall from time to time appoint some fit person to be Clerk of the Writs, by whom writs for the election of members of the House of Representatives shall in all cases be issued, and to whom such writs shall also be returnable.

There shall be a deputy of the said Clerk, to be appointed in like manner, who shall act when the said Clerk is unable to act.

For every general election the Governor shall, not later than seven days after the day of the dissolution or expiry of the then last-previous Parliament, as the case may have been, by warrant under his hand in the form or to the effect set forth in the Ninth Schedule hereto, direct the Clerk of the Writs to proceed with the elections.

On the receipt of such warrant the Clerk of the Writs shall within three days cause writs to be issued to the several Returning Officers, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Tenth Schedule hereto.

The writs shall be made returnable within twenty-one days.

In the writs to be issued a day shall be named for the polling (if a poll is required) to take place, and the same day shall be appointed in each writ for the polling.

The Clerk of the Writs shall forthwith, on the signing of a writ for an election to be held in any district, cause a notification of the issue of such writ to be sent by letter or telegram to the Registrar of the said district.

Every Returning Officer, on the receipt of a writ, shall indorse thereon the date of its receipt, and shall forthwith give at least ten days’ public notice of the day of polling, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Eleventh Schedule hereto, and the said ten days shall be inclusive both of the first day on which the notice is published and of the day of polling.

Any man qualified as provided in section nine of this Act, with his consent, may be nominated as a candidate for election for any district by not less than two electors of the last-named district, by a nomination-paper, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Twelfth Schedule hereto, given or transmitted to the Returning Officer so as to reach him not less than seven days before the day appointed for the poll.

The consent of any man to be nominated may be signified to the Returning Officer by letter sent by post or affixed to the nomination-paper, or by an ordinary message by telegraph, which shall be deemed to be delivered in time if delivered at the telegraph office for transmission within the time hereinbefore limited.

Each candidate shall be nominated by a separate nomination-paper in such manner as in the opinion of the Returning Officer is calculated to sufficiently identify such candidate; but the same electors, or any of them, may subscribe as many nomination-papers as there are vacancies to be filled, but no more.

No objection to a nomination-paper on the ground of the description of the candidate being insufficient or not being in compliance with this Act shall be allowed or deemed valid unless such objection is made in writing, and delivered to the Returning Officer not less than five days before the day appointed for the poll.

On receipt of every such nomination the Returning Officer shall immediately advertise the names of the several candidates in such newspaper circulating within the district as he shall deem best calculated to give full publicity to the same.

Every candidate, or some person on his behalf, shall, at the time of sending to the Returning Officer his consent to be nominated, deposit with or remit to the said officer the sum of ten pounds, which sum shall be retained by such Returning Officer until after the official notification of the poll; and in case such candidate, not having been elected, has not polled as many votes as shall equal in number one-tenth of the number of votes polled by the successful candidate, or, if there be more than one, by the successful candidate who has been returned by the fewest number of votes at such election, the same shall be forfeited and paid into the Consolidated Fund, but shall otherwise be returned to the person who has paid the same.

Any candidate may withdraw, but not later than five clear days before the day of polling, by giving or transmitting by letter to the Returning Officer a notice in the form or to the effect set forth in the Thirteenth Schedule hereto, signed by the candidate and attested by a Justice of the Peace.

The Returning Officer shall forthwith publish such notice in such manner as he shall deem best calculated to give full publicity to the same; and shall omit the name of every candidate whose name is withdrawn from the ballot-papers to be printed as hereinafter mentioned, or, if any such ballot-papers be already printed, shall erase therefrom the name of every candidate so withdrawn.

Any candidate giving such notice shall not be capable of being elected, and all votes given for him (if any) shall be void and of no effect.

If no more candidates than the number to be elected are nominated, or if any candidate who has been nominated withdraws, in manner hereinbefore provided, so that there shall remain no more candidates than the number to be elected, the Returning Officer shall, by public notice, to be given on or before the day appointed for taking the poll, declare such candidates duly elected.

The names of the persons so elected shall be indorsed on the writ by the Returning Officer, and the writ shall be by him returned to the Clerk of the Writs forthwith and within the time specified therein.

If more candidates than the number to be elected are nominated, and a sufficient number do not withdraw so as to leave only the required number to be elected, then for deciding between such candidates a poll shall take place on the day named in the writ for that purpose, and at the several polling-places of the district.

Forthwith after the day for receiving nominations is passed, the Returning Officer shall cause ballot-papers to be printed in the form or to the effect set forth in the Fourteenth Schedule hereto, in sufficient number for use in the district.

The ballot-papers shall contain a list of all the persons nominated as candidates, each name being inserted once only, whether nominated in one or more nomination-papers, and of no other persons, arranged alphabetically in the order of their surnames, in large characters, the Christian names of such candidates being added in lesser characters; and if in any case the Christian names and surnames of any two or more candidates be the same or in any way similar, they shall be distinguished upon such ballot-papers by the addition of their residence and occupation, or such other addition as shall be sufficient to distinguish them.

If a duly-nominated candidate, who has not withdrawn, shall die after the last day on which nomination-papers can be sent in, and before the day appointed for the poll at an election, the Returning Officer shall, upon being satisfied of the fact of such death, countermand notice of the poll; or

If any such candidate shall die upon the polling-day before the hour of closing the poll, the Returning Officer, upon being satisfied of the fact of such death, shall immediately close the poll, and declare the same to be null and of no effect;

And all proceedings with reference to the election, in either of such cases, shall be commenced afresh in all respects as if the writ had been received by the Returning Officer on the day on which proof was given him of such death.

It shall not be necessary to nominate afresh any candidate in respect of whom the nomination required by this Act was given at the time of the countermand or closing of the poll.

Whenever the proceedings in any election are to be commenced afresh in consequence of the death of a candidate, the Returning Officer shall, previous to their commencement, indorse on the writ the fact of such death, the date of the proof thereof, and of the countermand or interruption of the poll in consequence, as may be the case.

Whenever any poll is interrupted in consequence of the death of a candidate as aforesaid, all ballot-papers placed in the several ballot-boxes shall be taken out by the several Deputy Returning Officers, and, being made up into sealed packages, shall be sent by them respectively unopened to the Returning Officer, who shall forthwith, in the presence of a Resident Magistrate or a Justice of the Peace, burn or otherwise destroy the sealed packages unopened.

The Governor may from time to time appoint, alter, and abolish polling-places for each electoral district within the limits thereof.

After the issue of a writ for an election in any district, and until such election is over, no change shall be made in the polling-places appointed for such district, unless a polling-place becomes unavailable for the purpose for which it was appointed, or unless such election cannot be held without some such change being made:

Provided that such changes shall be duly notified in one or more newspapers circulating in the district wherein such change is made at least seven clear days prior to the day of polling.

No polling-place shall be appointed unless the Governor shall be first satisfied that the place to be appointed is more convenient than any other for at least twenty electors to record their votes thereat.

The poll shall be taken by ballot; it shall commence at nine o’clock in the forenoon of the day appointed, and shall, unless lawfully adjourned, finally close at six o’clock in the afternoon of the same day, except in the electorates enumerated in the Fifteenth Schedule hereto, in which electorates the poll shall close at seven o’clock.

The Returning Officer shall provide the following things for taking the poll:—

One or more rooms or compartments for polling-booths at each polling-place; and in each booth one or more inner compartments separated from but opening into the booth.

If there shall be more than one booth at any polling-place, there shall be fixed over the entrance of each booth in succession so many letters of the alphabet in their alphabetical order as shall denote the booth at which each elector, according to the initial letter of his or her surname, is to vote; and no elector shall be permitted to vote in any booth save that which is so denoted by the initial letter of his or her surname.

No polling-booth shall be in any house licensed for the sale of spirituous or fermented liquors, or in any premises belonging to such house.

In each booth one or more ballot-boxes, having a lock and key, and a slit in the upper side by which the ballot-papers may be put into the box.

A sufficient number of ballot-papers, in the form hereinbefore mentioned.

In each inner compartment pencils for the use of the voters.

The Returning Officer shall, with such clerks appointed by him as he may require, preside and take the poll at some one of such polling-places in the district as he shall see fit; and such polling-place shall be deemed to be the principal polling-place of the district.

The Returning Officer shall appoint, in writing, a Deputy to act for him and take the poll at each of the other polling-places of the district, and so many clerks as may be required to assist.

Every such Deputy shall have and discharge all the powers, duties, and functions, at the polling-place for which he is appointed, as are given to or to be performed by the Returning Officer.

Every Returning Officer and Deputy Returning Officer may appoint, in writing, a substitute to act for him, in case of being prevented by illness or other sufficient cause from attending, or from continuing to attend, at his polling-place, or in the event of the death of his principal at any time on the polling-day before the conclusion of the election; and every such substitute shall have full power and authority to do all things required by this Act to be done by his principal, but at his polling-place only; and such substitute shall take the poll at the polling-place during any temporary absence of his principal from the polling-place to which he is appointed.

Every Deputy Returning Officer shall, before the poll, and every substitute of any such officer shall, before acting, make and subscribe, before the Returning Officer or any Justice of the Peace, the declaration set forth in the Sixteenth Schedule hereto.

Each candidate, or, if he omit to do so, his nominators together, may, by writing under his or their hands, appoint one scrutineer for each ballot-box used in the booth; and every such scrutineer shall be entitled to be present in that part of the booth in which the ballot-papers are received, as hereinafter mentioned.

Every scrutineer and clerk shall, before he shall be admitted to act, make and subscribe before the Returning Officer the declaration set forth in the Seventeenth Schedule hereto.

The Returning Officer shall, immediately before the opening of the poll, and in sight of any of the scrutineers who may be present, see that the ballot-box is empty, and shall close and lock it, and retain the key in his possession.

The ballot-box shall not again be opened until after the close of the poll.

Not more than six voters, to be, if necessary, designated by the Returning Officer, shall be allowed in a polling-booth at one and the same time, except that at the hour for closing the poll the Returning Officer may, in his discretion, admit into the booth a larger number of voters than six, and no person not actually engaged in voting shall be allowed to remain there except the Returning Officer and his clerks, any of the scrutineers, an interpreter, and as many constables as the Returning Officer thinks necessary to keep order.

No scrutineer or other official or unofficial person shall speak to any voter in a polling-booth either before or after such voter has given his vote, except only the Returning Officer (with an interpreter, if necessary), who may ask the questions be is authorised to put, and give such general directions as may assist any voter to give his vote.

Every person offending against this section is liable for each such offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and may be at once removed from the booth by order of the Returning Officer.

Every person proposing to vote shall state to the Returning Officer his name, and shall demand a ballot-paper; and the Returning Officer having satisfied himself, by reference to the roll, that such person is entitled to vote and has not already voted, shall deliver to him a ballot-paper.

The Returning Officer may, and if so required by any scrutineer shall, before allowing any person to vote, put to him the following questions:—

Are you the person whose name appears as A.B. on the electoral roll now in force for the Electoral District of [name of district]?

Have you, within the last six months, on your own application, been registered on the electoral roll of any other electoral district in the colony?

Have you already voted at the present election in any electoral district in the colony?

If any person, having tendered his vote, to whom the prescribed questions shall be so put as aforesaid, shall refuse or omit distinctly to answer the same and each part thereof, or shall not answer absolutely in the affirmative the first of the prescribed questions, and absolutely in the negative the second and third of the prescribed questions, he shall be and be deemed prohibited from voting then or afterwards at such election, and shall be guilty of an offence, and on summary conviction shall be liable for the same to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

If any person shall wilfully and knowingly make a false answer to any of the questions which a Returning Officer or Deputy Returning Officer may put to him under this Act, he shall for every such offence be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

After the name of any person is inserted on the roll of any district, if he parts with the whole or any part of his qualifying property in respect whereof he was registered in such district, but retains in the same district property of sufficient value to qualify him as an elector for such district, or if he removes his residence from one part to another of the same district, he shall not be deemed, by reason only of such alienation of property or change of residence, to be dispossessed of the qualification which he had for the district in respect of which he was so registered.

Before giving a ballot-paper to an elector the Returning Officer shall write upon the bottom of the left-hand corner of the back thereof his initials and the number appearing on the roll against the name of the elector to whom be gives such paper, and, after securing the said corner by gum or otherwise, shall stamp thereon an official mark, and shall place a mark against the name of such elector on the roll as evidence that he has tendered his vote.

The voter, having received a ballot-paper, shall retire into one of the inner compartments provided, and shall there, alone and secretly, strike out from the ballot-paper the names of the candidates for whom be does not wish to vote.

If any voter is blind or is unable to read or write, and so desires, the Returning Officer shall, together with not more than two scrutineers, retire with him into the inner compartment, and there make up the ballot-paper according to the instruction of the voter, and erase therefrom the names of the candidates for whom be does not wish to vote; and such Returning Officer shall sign his own name at the foot thereof, and, if so required by the voter, shall allow a scrutineer or scrutineers to inspect such ballot-paper before putting it into the ballot-box.

Every voter, before leaving the inner compartment, shall fold up his ballot-paper so that the contents cannot be seen, and, after showing the Returning Officer the official mark thereon, shall then deposit the ballot-paper, so folded, in the ballot-box.

Except as next hereinafter provided, every voter for the district may vote for any number of candidates at an election not exceeding the number of candidates then to be returned for the district, but may not give more than one vote to each such candidate.

Every ballot-paper recording more than the legal number of votes at any election shall be rejected at the close of the poll.

If any person proposing to vote at any election tenders his name as of the same person to whom a ballot-paper has already been given at the same election he shall be dealt with in all respects in like manner as any voter tendering his vote; but the ballot-paper of such person shall not be deposited in the ballot-box or allowed by the Returning Officer, who shall set the ballot-paper aside for separate custody.

Every ballot-paper which has not on its back the official mark, or on which anything is written or marked by which the voter can be identified, except the writing in the corner scaled by the Returning Officer, shall be rejected at the close of the poll and not counted.

Every Returning Officer has power and authority to maintain order and keep the peace at any polling-place where he is conducting the poll, and, without any other warrant than this Act, to cause to be arrested and taken before a Justice of the Peace any person reasonably suspected of committing or attempting to commit at a polling-place any of the offences which are made misdemeanours by this Act:

Also to cause to be removed any person who obstructs the approaches to a polling-booth, or wilfully and unnecessarily obstructs or delays the proceeding at the polling, or conducts himself in a disorderly manner, or causes a disturbance, or wilfully acts in any manner in defiance of the lawful directions of the Returning Officer.

All constables shall aid and assist the Returning Officer in the performance of his duty.

When the proceedings for taking the poll at any election are interrupted or obstructed at any place by riot, open violence, or otherwise, the Returning Officer shall not for such cause finally close the poll, but shall adjourn the taking of the poll at the polling-place at which such interruption or obstruction happens to the following day; and, if necessary, from day to day, until the poll can be taken without such interruption or obstruction, when the Returning Officer shall again proceed with taking the poll: Provided that the poll shall not be kept open for more than ten hours on the whole in any city, borough, or town district having a population exceeding six thousand, and nine hours on the whole in any other place.

No election shall be liable to be questioned by reason only of any defect in the title or any want of title of the person by or before whom such election or any polling shall have been held, if such person has been actually appointed or has been acting in the office giving a right to preside at such election or polling.

No election shall be void in consequence of there being no Returning Officer for any district at the time of the issue of the writ, or of any delay in the return of the writ.

No election shall be declared invalid by reason of any irregularity in any of the proceedings preliminary to the polling, or by reason of a failure to hold a poll at any place appointed for holding a poll, or by reason of a non-compliance with the directions contained in this Act as to the taking of the poll or the counting of the votes, or by reason of any mistake in the use of the forms contained in the Schedules to this Act, if it appears to the Court having cognisance of the question that the election was conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in this Act, and that such failure, non-compliance, or mistake did not affect the result of the election.

The Returning Officer, and every Deputy, at the polling-place at which each shall preside, shall (except in the cases next hereinafter mentioned), as soon as practicable after the close of the poll, in the presence of such of the scrutineers as choose to be present, and the poll-clerks (if any), but of no other persons, open the ballot-boxes, and, taking therefrom all the ballot-papers therein, proceed to ascertain the number of votes for each candidate, and shall, upon and after such opening, both abstain himself from inspecting the writing upon the back of the ballot-papers, and take care that the same is not seen by any person present before the papers are enclosed in a sealed parcel as hereinafter mentioned.

The Deputy Returning Officer of each polling-place shall, immediately after ascertaining the total number of votes as mentioned in the last-preceding section, make up the ballot-papers into a separate parcel, sealed with his own seal and the seals of such scrutineers as desire to affix their seals, and shall transmit the same to the Returning Officer, together with, in separate sealed parcels,—

The unused and spoilt ballot-papers, placed together; and

The ballot-papers which shall have been set aside for separate custody as hereinbefore provided; and

All books, rolls, and papers kept and used by him during the polling, except the certified copies of rolls supplied to the said Deputy on which the fact of any person having received a ballot-paper has been noted;

and shall indorse such parcels severally with a description of the contents thereof, and with the name of the district, the name of the place of polling, and the date of the polling, and sign with his name the said indorsement.

Each Deputy shall, together with the parcels aforesaid, transmit to the Returning Officer—

The certified copies of rolls supplied to the said Deputy on which the fact of any person having received a ballot-paper has been noted; and

A list of the total number of votes received by each candidate; and

An account in which such Deputy shall charge himself with the number of ballot-papers originally delivered to himspecified therein, the number thereof delivered to and used by voters, and the number thereof not so delivered or left unused, and the number thereof set aside for separate custody (which account is hereinafter referred to as the ballot-paper account).

Every such list and account shall be verified as well by the signatures of the said Deputy and the poll-clerk (if any) as also by the signatures of such of the scrutineers as shall be present and shall consent to sign the same.

The Returning Officer shall, in the same manner as herein required in the case of Deputy Returning Officers, in respect of any polling-booth at which he himself shall have presided,-

Make out the like ballot-paper account, which shall be verified by the signature of the Returning Officer, the poll-clerks (if any), and scrutineers in manner aforesaid;

Make up in separate parcels, in like manner as is herein required of Deputy Returning Officers, all ballot-papers used, unused, or set aside as aforesaid, and all books, rolls, and papers (except the certified copies of rolls on which the fact of any person having received a ballot-paper has been noted) kept or used by him at such polling-booth; and

Seal up, and also permit to be sealed up by the scrutineers, and shall indorse in like manner as aforesaid, the said several parcels, and deal with the same as hereinafter provided.

The Returning Officer shall make arrangements for counting the votes as soon as practicable after the close of the poll, in the presence of scrutineers appointed by the candidates for that purpose, and shall give notice in writing to the candidates or their scrutineers of the time and place at which he will commence to count the same.

No person except one scrutineer appointed by each candidate, the Returning Officer and his assistants and clerks, and no other person, may be present at the counting of the votes.

The Returning Officer shall, in the presence and hearing of such scrutineers as shall be present, compare with one another all the certified copies of rolls on which the fact of any person having received a ballot-paper has been noted by himself or any Deputy, as by this Act provided.

If on such comparison it shall appear that the same person has received a ballot-paper at two or more polling places, and if satisfied beyond doubt of the identity of the person so voting, the Returning Officer shall, in the presence of such scrutineers as choose to be present, open the parcels of ballot-papers used at the several polling-places at which such person shall appear to have received any ballot-paper, and shall select therefrom the ballot-papers on which the number corresponding to the name of such person shall appear, and shall disallow every vote appearing to have been given by means of the ballot-papers so selected:

Provided that, upon and after the opening of such parcel, the Returning Officer shall both abstain himself from inspecting the faces of the ballot-papers in the several parcels, other than the ballot-papers selected therefrom, so opened, and shall take care that the faces of the same are not seen by any person present.

When the Returning Officer has selected from any parcel all the ballot-papers which he is required to select therefrom, he shall forthwith close and seal up the said parcel, and shall also permit the scrutineers to close and seal up the same, and shall indorse thereon a memorandum of the fact of ballot-papers having been selected from such parcel, specifying the same by the name of the person to whom the same shall appear to have been delivered, and shall sign the indorsement with his name.

The Returning Officer shall set aside all ballot-papers selected by him from any parcel, as herein provided, and shall seal up the same in a separate parcel, and shall also permit the scrutineers to seal up the same, and shall indorse the same with a description of the contents thereof, and shall sign the indorsement with his name.

The Returning Officer shall make up, from the list made out by him as last aforesaid, and from the list so transmitted by the Deputy Returning Officers as aforesaid (corrected by disallowing votes if need be), the general state of the poll, and shall, as soon as conveniently may be on or after the day of the poll, give public notice of the number of votes received by each candidate, and declare the candidate or candidates, not exceeding the number to be elected, who have received in the aggregate at all the polling-places the greatest number of votes, to be duly elected as member or members for the district.

Where the Returning Officer of any district is unable to complete the state of the poll on the evening of the closing thereof, by reason of his not having received all the ballot-papers exercised by the holders of electors’ rights for the district, he may, on the said evening or thereafter, in such manner as he thinks fit, make known unofficially the state of the poll so far as he can make it up to such time, and may state what number of the last aforesaid ballot-papers are in transit and have not been received by him; but in no case shall the official declaration be delayed for longer than seven days after the day of polling, and any votes given in any ballot-papers which shall not have been received within such seven days shall not be counted.

And in the case of any particular election whilst the House of Representatives is in session, if the Returning Officer shall find that the candidate having a majority of votes given in his favour would still have a majority of votes if all the votes of the holders of electors’ rights to arrive were given against him, then and in such case the Returning Officer may declare such candidate to be elected, and he shall be qualified to take his seat.

Wherever there is an equality of votes between candidates at an election, and the addition of a vote would entitle any of such candidates to be declared elected, the Returning Officer shall give such additional vote, whether or not he be an elector for the district; but shall not otherwise vote.

The names of the persons so elected shall be indorsed on the writ by the Returning Officer, and the writ shall be by him returned to the Clerk of the Writs forthwith, and within the time specified therein.

The day on which the writ so indorsed comes into the possession of the Clerk of the Writs shall be indorsed by him on the writ, and his signature subscribed thereto; and such day shall be deemed to be the day of the return thereof.

If at a general election any member shall be returned for two or more districts he shall make his election for which he will serve within seven days after it shall appear that there is no question upon his return for the district for which he elects to serve.

If a petition is presented against his return for either district be shall, if his return for both districts is valid, make his election within seven days after the petition has been disposed of.

Every Returning Officer, after the day of polling at any election where a poll has been had, and before sealing up the certified copies of rolls received from the various Deputies, shall transfer from the said rolls on to a fair copy of the electoral roll of the district a distinguishing mark to indicate every voter who has voted at the said election, and shall write the word “candidate” or “prohibited from voting” opposite the names of such persons as were candidates or prohibited by law from voting at such election, and shall sign the said roll as accurate with his name and the title of his office, and the date of the polling-day; and shall transmit the complete roll so marked to the Registrar of the district, who thereupon shall erase from the roll of the district the names of all the voters, other than candidates and persons prohibited from voting, who are not indicated by the roll received from the Returning Officer as having voted at such election; and for so doing this Act shall be sufficient warrant.

The said Registrar shall keep and produce to the Resident Magistrate, on any revision of the roll, the marked copy of the roll received from the Returning Officer; and the said roll shall be sufficient evidence that any person, other than a candidate, not marked thereon as having voted at an election did not vote at such election.

The Returning Officer shall, as soon as practicable after the day of polling at any election, enclose in separate packets, in manner hereinafter mentioned, as well all the parcels so as aforesaid transmitted to him by the several Deputy Returning Officers as also those made up and sealed by himself: that is to say,—

He shall enclose in one separate packet all the used ballot-papers, in another all parcels of unused ballot-papers, in another all parcels of ballot-papers set aside as aforesaid, and in another all parcels containing the ballot-paper accounts, copies of rolls, books, or other papers, as herein provided; and shall enclose in the same parcel all telegrams, letters, and other papers received from the Collectors and Postmasters under Part III. of this Act:

He shall seal up the said several packets, and indorse the same with a description of the contents thereof respectively, and the name of the district, and the date of the polling, and sign with his name the said indorsement; and shall forthwith forward the said packets, and also the parcel of ballot-papers selected as aforesaid, to the Clerk of the House of Representatives:

And he shall also at the same time seal up and transmit to the said Clerk a parcel containing all ballot-papers which shall have been printed for the said election and not used by the Returning Officer or distributed for use to his deputies.

The said Clerk shall forthwith give or send to the Returning Officer a receipt under his hand for the said packets and parcel.

The sealed packets and parcel shall be safely kept for one year, unopened, except by the command of a competent Court or the House of Representatives.

At the end of one year the packets and parcels shall be burnt unopened, in the presence of the said Clerk and the Clerk of the Writs.

Any ballot-papers, and any copy of a roll, and any book purporting to be taken from any such parcel as aforesaid, and having written thereon respectively, under the hand of the Clerk of the House of Representatives for the time being, a certificate of the several particulars hereby required to be indorsed upon such parcel, and that the same was so taken from such parcel, shall be conclusive evidence in any Court of justice or before any Committee of the House of Representatives that the same was so taken, and that the same, if a ballot-paper, was deposited, and, if a roll or book, was kept or used at the election and booth to which such indorsement and writing relate.

Every such ballot-paper so certified shall be evidence of a vote given at such election, and of the correspondence of the number appearing on such ballot-paper with the number appearing on any roll so certified as of the same election and booth, and according to the tenor of the said ballot-paper.

But in the case of the ballot-papers set aside or selected and set aside by a Deputy Returning Officer or by the Returning Officer, such correspondence shall be evidence only of some person having voted in the name appearing on such roll.

The seat of any member of the House of Representatives shall become vacant—

If for one whole session of the General Assembly be fails, without permission of the House, to give his attendance in the House;

If he takes any oath or makes any declaration or acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to any foreign Prince or Power;

If he does or concurs in or adopts any act whereby he may become a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power or is entitled to the rights, privileges, or immunities of a subject of any foreign State or Power;

If he is a bankrupt within the meaning of the laws relating to bankruptcy;

If he is a public defaulter, or is attainted of treason, or is convicted of felony, or is convicted of a corrupt practice in reference to any election;

If he resigns his seat by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker of the House, or, if there be no Speaker or he be absent from the colony, or if the resigning member be the Speaker, to the Governor;

If on an election petition the Election Court declares his election void;

If he dies.

The Registrar or Clerk of any Court in which any member has been adjudged a bankrupt, or has been declared to be a public defaulter, or been attainted of treason, or convicted of felony or of a corrupt practice, shall, within forty-eight hours after such adjudication, declaration, attainder, or conviction, notify the Speaker, or, if there be no Speaker in the colony, then the Governor, thereof; and any Registrar or Clerk failing to send such notification shall be guilty of an offence, and be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day he shall neglect to send such notification.

Except at a general election no member for one district shall be capable of being elected to supply a vacancy in any other district; and, in the event of his being returned, with his consent, for one district whilst be is member for any other, the seats for both shall thereupon become vacant.

If the seat of any member becomes vacant on any of the grounds mentioned in section one hundred and thirty, after a petition is presented against the return of the said member, no writ to supply the vacancy shall be issued until after the petition is disposed of, and not then if the Judges trying the petition determine that such member was not duly elected or returned, and that some other person was duly elected or returned.

If a vacancy exists at the commencement of any session, and no writ has been issued to supply the same, or if a vacancy occurs during a session, the Speaker shall forthwith, upon being ordered to do so by the House, issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Writs directing him to issue a writ to supply the vacancy.

Whenever, during a recess of the House, whether by prorogation or adjournment, it appears to the Speaker that a vacancy exists, he shall cause a notification of the same and of the cause thereof to be inserted in the Gazette.

When such vacancy has arisen from any cause other than death or resignation, then as soon as conveniently may be after the expiration of ten days after such notification has appeared in the Gazette, the Speaker, on its being established to his satisfaction that a vacancy does exist, shall issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Writs, directing him to issue a writ to supply the vacancy.

When such vacancy shall arise from death or resignation the Speaker shall issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Writs forthwith, directing him to issue a writ to supply the vacancy.

Whenever a vacancy occurs at a time when there is no Speaker, or he be absent from the colony, the Governor shall cause a like notification to be inserted in the Gazette and the like proceedings taken as are provided for in the two preceding sections.

On receipt of a warrant the Clerk of the Writs shall forthwith cause a writ to be issued to the Returning Officer of the district in which the vacancy has occurred, in the form or to the effect set forth in the Eighteenth Schedule hereto.

The writ shall be made returnable within twenty-one days.

Sections seventy-three to one hundred and twenty-nine of this Act shall apply to and be acted on at all particular elections.

The Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Clerk of the Writs and his Deputy, and any member desiring to resign his seat, any Returning Officer or substitute for a Returning Officer, may cause to be transmitted by electric telegraph the contents of any writ, warrant, return, notice, nomination-paper, authority, or other communication which, under the provisions of this Act, are required or authorised to be made or issued by the Governor, Speaker, or any or such other officer or person as aforesaid, whether requiring signature or seal or not, subject to the provisions following, that is to say,—

The original document shall be delivered at a telegraph station, and, in the case of any officers and persons as aforesaid, other than the Governor or Speaker, such delivery shall be made in the presence and under the inspection of some Justice of the Peace.

The person to whom the contents of any such document shall be sent shall forthwith, in the presence and under the supervision of a Justice of the Peace, cause to be sent back by electric telegraph a copy of the message received by him; and, in the event of any error appearing therein, the process shall be repeated, under the like supervision, until it shall appear that a true copy of such document has been received by the person to whom it shall have been sent.

When it shall appear that such true copy has been so received, the officer or person who delivered the original document to the Telegraph officer shall indorse upon the original document a certificate that a true copy thereof has been sent, under the provisions of this section, to the person to whom the same shall have been so sent, and shall forthwith, by electric telegraph, inform such person that such certificate has been so indorsed; and, in the case of every officer or person, other than the Governor or Speaker, the certificate shall be indorsed in the presence of the Justice of the Peace who was present at the delivery of the original document.

The person so receiving such true copy shall, upon receiving information of such certificate, indorse upon the copy of the original document received by him a certificate that the same has been duly received under the provisions of this section, which certificate shall be signed by him and by the Justice so supervising the receipt of such copy as hereinbefore provided.

Every copy so indorsed and certified shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as the original whereof it purports to be a copy would have been, and shall be admissible in evidence in any case in which the original would have been so admissible; and any person by whom such copy shall have been so received, or who shall be thereby authorised, instructed, or commanded, or who shall or may be lawfully charged with any duty in respect thereof, shall have and become liable to the same rights and duties in respect thereof as if he had received such original document duly signed and sealed, or signed or sealed, as the case may be.

Every original document a copy whereof has been transmitted under the last-preceding section shall be kept at the telegraph station at which it was delivered for the purposes of such transmission, and shall, after the expiration of two days from the date of the certificate under subsection three of the said section being indorsed upon it, be open within reasonable hours to the inspection of any person upon the payment of a fee of one shilling.

Any person who, being charged with the delivery of any such telegraphic message as aforesaid, shall wilfully deliver the same to any person other than the person to whom the same shall be addressed, 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, with or without hard labour.

Whosoever, without lawful authority or excuse (the proof whereof shall be on the person accused), shall sign the name of any other person to any such telegraphic message as aforesaid, with intent to procure such message to be sent as a message from such other person, 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, with or without hard labour.

Any person who shall wilfully and falsely indorse upon any original document delivered at a telegraph station for the purpose of being transmitted under the provisions of this Act a certificate that a true copy thereof has been sent under section one hundred and thirty-nine of this Act, or who shall by telegraph wilfully and falsely inform any person to whom such document shall have been so sent that a certificate under the provisions of this Act has been indorsed thereon, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding one hundred pounds, which may be sued for and recovered by the first person who shall, for his own benefit and without collusion, sue for the same.

Any person by this Act required to sign any certificate upon any copy of a document that such copy has been duly received, under the provisions of section one hundred and thirty-nine of this Act, who shall wilfully sign any such certificate knowing the same to be false, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding fourteen years and not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour and with or without solitary confinement.

Every person who—

Forges, or counterfeits, or fraudulently defaces, or fraudulently destroys any ballot-paper or the official mark on any ballot-paper; or

Without due authority supplies any ballot-paper to any person; or

Fraudulently puts into any ballot-box any paper other than the ballot-paper which he or she is authorised by law to put in; or

Fraudulently takes out of the polling-booth any ballot-paper; or

Without due authority destroys, takes, opens, or otherwise interferes with any ballot-box, or box or packet or parcel of ballot-papers, then in use for the purposes of the election, or in course of transmission by post or otherwise, or thereafter wherever the same may be kept as a record of such election,

shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be liable, if he is a Returning Officer or an officer or clerk in attendance at a polling-booth, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and, if he or she is any other person, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour.

Any attempt to commit any offence specified in this section shall be punishable in the manner in which the offence is punishable.

In any indictment or other prosecution for an offence in relation to the ballot-boxes, ballot-papers, or marking instrument at an election, the property in such papers, boxes, and instruments may be stated to be in the Returning Officer at such election.

Every officer, clerk, scrutineer, interpreter, and constable in attendance at a polling-booth shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of the voting in such booth, and shall not communicate, except for some purpose authorised by law, before the poll is closed, to any person any information calculated to defeat the secrecy of the ballot.

No person whosoever, except as hereinbefore provided, shall interfere with or attempt to interfere with a voter when marking his or her vote, or otherwise attempt to obtain in the polling-booth information as to any candidate for whom any voter in such booth is about to vote or has voted, or communicate at any time to any person any information obtained in a polling-booth as to the candidate for whom any voter at such booth is about to vote or has voted, or as to the number on the back of the ballot-paper given to any voter at such booth.

Every person in attendance at the counting of the votes shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of the voting, and shall not communicate any information obtained at such counting as to the candidate for whom any vote is given in any particular ballot-paper.

No person shall, directly or indirectly, induce any voter to display his or her ballot-paper after he or she shall have marked the same, so as to make known to any person the name of the candidate for or against whom he or she has so marked his or her vote.

Every person who acts in contravention of the provisions of this section shall be liable, on summary conviction before two Justices of the Peace, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour.

If any Returning Officer wilfully delays, neglects, or refuses to return any person who ought to be returned, such person may, in case it has been determined on the hearing of an election petition by a competent tribunal that such person was entitled to have been returned, sue in the Supreme Court the officer having so wilfully delayed, neglected, or refused duly to make such return, and recover double the damages be has sustained by reason thereof, together with full costs of suit, provided such action be commenced within one year after the commission or omission of the act on which the said action is grounded, or within six months after the conclusion of the trial relating to such election.

In this Part of this Act—

“Maori” means an aboriginal inhabitant of New Zealand, and includes half-castes and their descendants by Natives.

In addition to the number of members of which by any law for the time being in force it may be provided that the House of Representatives shall consist, there shall be four members of the said House who shall be elected under the provisions of this Part of this Act to represent therein the inhabitants of the colony of the Maori race.

Such members shall be chosen respectively from amongst and by the votes of the Maoris inhabiting each of the several Maori electoral districts hereinafter mentioned, who shall not at any time theretofore have been attainted or convicted of any treason, felony, or any offence punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment with hard labour for three years or upwards, and shall be otherwise qualified as hereinafter provided.

Every Maori, as defined in section one hundred and forty-eight of this Act (not being registered under Part II. of this Act), who is twenty-one years of age and upwards, and who is not disqualified under some provisions of this Act or any other Act, is entitled, subject to the provisions of this Act, to vote as an elector at any election of a member of the House of Representatives for the Maori electoral district which he inhabits; and

Every male elector under this Part of this Act is qualified to be a member of the House of Representatives for any Maori electoral district of the colony.

No member elected under the provisions of this Part of this Act to serve in the House of Representatives, and no Maori member who shall be summoned to the Legislative Council, shall be capable of being appointed to any office of emolument under the General Government of the colony so long as he may be a member of the General Assembly. If any such member of either branch of the Legislature shall at the time of his being summoned or elected hold any such office of emolument as aforesaid, the salary or emolument of such office shall neither be increased nor diminished during such time as he may be a member of the General Assembly.

The provisions of this section shall not, however, apply to the holding a seat in the Executive Council, or holding an appointment as adviser or assessor of or in connection with the Executive Council, and receiving salary only in respect of such seat or such appointment, such seat or appointment being held on the ordinary tenure of responsible government.

For the purpose of the election of the aforesaid Maori members of the said House, the colony shall be divided into four Maori electoral districts.

The names of such electoral districts and the numbers of the members to be returned by each such district respectively shall be as follow:—

The Northern Maori Electoral District—One member.

The Eastern Maori Electoral District—One member.

The Western Maori Electoral District—One member.

The Southern Maori Electoral District—One member.

The several Maori electoral districts constituted under “The Maori Representation Act, 1867,” as the same existed at the time of the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to be constituted and shall be the Maori electoral districts under this Act; but the Governor, by Proclamation published in the New Zealand Gazette, may at any time as occasion may require redefine and declare, and from time to time alter and vary, the boundaries of the said several Maori electoral districts; and such boundaries so from time to time redefined and declared shall be taken and deemed to be the boundaries of the said Maori electoral districts as fully as if the same had been set forth in this Part of this Act.

The person who at the time of the making and publication of any Proclamation altering the boundaries of any Maori electoral district is the member of the House of Representatives for such district, shall (if in all other respects duly qualified) be and be deemed to be the member for such one of the Maori electoral districts affected by such alteration as the Governor shall in and by any such Proclamation appoint, as if such member had been originally elected for such electoral district so altered as aforesaid.

The elections, whether general or particular, of all Maori members shall be conducted according to the following regulations:—

There shall be one Returning Officer for each electoral district, to be appointed by the Governor, and the said Returning Officer shall have power to appoint, on the occasion of any election, such Deputy Returning Officers as he may doom necessary; and if, owing to illness or other misadventure, such officer shall be unable personally to attend on such occasion, he shall be empowered to appoint a substitute to act in his stead.

Every Returning Officer and Deputy Returning Officer, and every substitute appointed hereunder, shall, before acting in his office, make and subscribe before a Justice of the Peace the declaration set forth in Form A in the Nineteenth Schedule hereto, and such Justice of the Peace shall transmit a record of the same to the Colonial Secretary.

Polling-places shall be appointed in each electoral district by the Governor, and notice of the places appointed shall be published in the Kahiti and New Zealand Gazette for at least eight days previous to the day of nomination.

The Governor shall issue a writ in the Form B in the Nineteenth Schedule hereto, specifying the day and place of nomination, and the day on which the poll, if necessary, shall take place.

The above writ shall be forwarded to each Returning Officer, and a copy thereof shall be published in the Kahiti and New Zealand Gazette, and posted in such public places as shall be thought desirable by the Returning Officer.

On the day of nomination, so to be fixed as aforesaid, the Returning Officer shall preside at a meeting to be held at noon at the appointed place, and shall declare the purpose for which the meeting is held. It shall be competent to the Returning Officer to declare the meeting adjourned from day to day till the election is completed.

Every candidate shall be proposed by one and seconded by another elector, who shall each previously obtain from the Returning Officer a certificate that he is qualified to vote at the election; and, if no more than one candidate shall be so proposed and seconded, the Returning Officer shall declare such candidate duly elected, and will make his return accordingly.

In the event of there being more candidates than one proposed and seconded, the Returning Officer shall call for a show of hands, separately, in favour of each candidate, and after such show shall declare the person in whose favour the show of hands shall appear to have been largest; and if thereupon a poll be not demanded by one of the candidates, or by some elector, duly certified as such, on his behalf, the Returning Officer shall declare such person to be duly elected.

The name of the person so declared to be elected shall be indorsed on the writ by the Returning Officer as the person duly elected in pursuance thereof, and the writ shall be returned by him to the Governor forthwith, who shall transmit the same to the Clerk of the Writs, to be by him forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Returning Officer shall forthwith publish a notice of the result of the poll in the Kahiti.

If a poll be demanded as aforesaid, the Returning Officer shall then declare the day on which the same shall be taken, being the day fixed by the writ as aforesaid, and on that day the poll shall be taken, at the places appointed as aforesaid, and shall commence at nine o’clock in the forenoon of the day appointed and shall close at four o’clock in the afternoon of the same day, unless otherwise ordered by the Returning Officer.

If a poll be demanded, the Returning Officer shall immediately make arrangements for the issue at each polling-place of voting-papers to electors, which shall be in the Form C in the Nineteenth Schedule hereto, and such papers may be issued at any time or times appointed by the Returning Officer until the close of the poll.

Before giving a voting-paper to any half-caste, the Returning Officer shall put the following question to him:

“Are you registered as an elector in respect of a qualification for any electoral district other than a Maori electoral district?” and, if such question is not answered in the negative, he shall not give the applicant a voting-paper.

On the day of the poll the electors shall enter one by one the polling-booth, and shall each present his voting-paper and, when requested to do so, shall state the name of the candidate for whom be intends to vote, and his own name. The Returning Officer or his Deputy shall thereupon write the name of such candidate on the voting-paper, and sign the same, and pass it to a Maori, to be appointed by him, to be associated with him for this purpose, who shall place his initials or name on such voting-paper as witness.

Each candidate may, by writing under his hand, appoint one scrutineer, who, if he chooses, may, after the closing of the poll, be present at the counting of the votes given to each candidate.

The Returning Officer shall, immediately after the closing of the poll, and in the presence of such scrutineers as choose to be present, ascertain the numbers polled for each candidate, and shall sign a notice and declaration stating the number of votes polled for each candidate, and declare the person found to have the greatest number of votes to be duly elected, and shall indorse, return, and forward the writ accordingly, and publish a notice of the result of the poll, as provided in subsection nine of this section.

If two or more candidates have received an equal number of votes the Returning Officer shall give a casting-vote.

The Returning Officer or his Deputy shall have power to appoint a sufficient number of officers to keep order, and to make and enforce such other regulations for insuring the orderly, effective, and impartial conduct of the election.

The provisions of this Act relating to notices by telegraph, mutatis mutandis, shall be deemed to be implied herein as fully and effectually as if they were expressly set forth.

Where by these regulations it is directed that any notice or copy of any instrument is to be published in the Kahiti, such publication shall be in the Maori language; and where by these regulations it is directed that any notice or copy of any instrument is to be published in the New Zealand Gazette, such publication shall be in the English language.

In any case not provided for in these regulations, the Returning Officer or his Deputy or substitute shall, as far as possible, be guided, mutatis mutandis, by the law and practice which obtains in relation to election of members for the House of Representatives for other electoral districts, and to the general law relating to Parliament.

Any candidate at an election may, for the purpose of public meetings of electors convened or held for electoral purposes during the period of an election, use, free of charge, other than the cost of lighting, and of cleaning after use, and of repairing any damage done, any suitable room in any primary school receiving a grant out of moneys provided by Parliament, after the ordinary school hours, and any suitable room in any building the expense of maintaining which is wholly or partially payable out of any local rate; subject as follows, that is to say,—

Three days’ notice of the proposed public meeting shall be given to the Committee or Managers of such school or building;

The use of the school or building shall be granted in the order of the receipt of the application by or on behalf of the candidates;

No candidate shall have the use of the same hall or room on a second occasion should any other candidate desire to make use of it at the same time under the provisions of this section;

If it be proved that any such meeting was not a public meeting within the meaning of this section, it shall be an illegal practice within the meaning of “The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1881,” and the person by whom and the candidate on whose behalf the meeting was convened shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds.

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

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

If, at the hearing of any information under this section, it shall appear to the Court or Justices that such information is unfounded, frivolous, or vexatious, the Court or Justices, whether the information is dismissed or not, may order that the prosecutor shall pay to the defendant such costs, together with such further sum by way of compensation, as shall seem reasonable, and the same shall be recovered in like manner as any sum ordered to be paid by Justices.

Every person who knowingly and wilfully makes a false statement in any claim, application, certificate, or declaration mentioned in this Act, is liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or to imprisonment for any period not exceeding three months.

Every person who wilfully misleads any Registrar in the compilation of any electoral list or roll, or who wilfully inserts or causes to be inserted therein any false or fictitious name or qualification, or the name of any dead person knowing him to be dead, is liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

Every person who—

Signs the name of any other person, whether requested to do so or not, or any false or fictitious name, to any form of claim, application, or objection, for the purposes of this Act, either as claimant, applicant, or objector, or as witness; or

Signs his own name as witness to any signature upon any such form of claim, application, or objection without having seen such signature written, or without hearing the person signing declare the signature to be his own and signed of his own proper name; or

Erases, obliterates, or alters any official mark, stamp, or writing on the back of any ballot-paper, or places thereon any writing, print, or other matter calculated to lead persons to believe that the same was put thereon by any officer or person duly authorised in that behalf, is liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.

Every person who makes any wager, bet, or other risk of any nature whatsoever upon the result of any election under this Act, is liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds; and every such wager, bet, or other risk shall be and is hereby declared an illegal practice within the meaning of “The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1881.”

All offences under this Act punishable on summary conviction may be prosecuted and all penalties, fines, and forfeitures recovered, in manner provided by “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1882,” before any two or more Justices of the Peace or a Resident Magistrate.

In any proceedings before any Court or tribunal whatever, by a public officer or any other person on behalf of Her Majesty, for the recovery of any fine, forfeiture, or penalty under this Act, the said Court or other tribunal, in awarding the amount thereof, may also in each case award to such public officer or other person the costs of recovering the same.

The Governor from time to time, by warrant under his hand, may authorise and direct that all such moneys as shall from time to time be required for paying any expenses lawfully incurred or to be incurred under and in execution of this Act be paid out of the Public Account, and the same shall be so paid accordingly.

When any accidental or unavoidable impediment, misfeasance, or omission happens, the Governor in Council may take all such measures as may be necessary for removing or rectifying the same, or may postpone the day on which any electoral roll may come into force, or may declare any such roll valid, or may declare any or all of the proceedings at or for any election valid, notwithstanding such impediment, misfeasance, or omission.

Every such Order in Council shall state specifically the nature of the impediment, misfeasance, or omission, and shall be forthwith published in the Gazette.

Within twenty-one days before or after the day appointed for doing any act, matter, or thing by this Act required to be done on or before a day certain, the Governor in Council may extend the time allowed for doing any such act, matter, or thing, and adopt or cause to be adopted such measures as may be necessary to remove any obstacle or difficulty of a technical or formal nature by which the carrying-out of the provisions of this Act may be impeded, and supply any deficiency which may be required to be supplied in order to enable the said provisions to be carried out.

“The Election Petitions Act, 1880,” and “The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1881,” shall respectively apply in respect to all elections held under this Act.

The Acts and parts of Acts mentioned in the Twentieth Schedule hereto are hereby repealed.