This Act may be cited as the Marriage Amendment Act, 1927, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Marriage Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

If the Minister of Internal Affairs is satisfied with respect to any religious body (not being one of the bodies referred to in the Third Schedule to the principal Act) that the constitution or tenets of that body do not recognize or make provision for the office of minister of religion within the membership of the body, he may, in accordance with the following provisions of this section, direct the Registrar-General to enter upon the List of Officiating Ministers compiled for the purposes of the principal Act the names of such adult members of that religious body as he thinks proper, being in his opinion persons of good character and otherwise qualified to act as officiating ministers; and every person whose name is so entered shall, while his name is on the said list, be deemed accordingly to be an officiating minister for all the purposes of the principal Act.

No person shall have his name entered on the List of Officiating Ministers pursuant to this section except on the petition in writing of ten adult members of the religious body to which he belongs.

The signatures to such petition, and the description of the petitioners as adult members of the religious body concerned, shall be attested and verified in the same manner as if the petition were a certificate given under section ten of the principal Act.