MILITIA BILL.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 73, 31 August 1865, Page 5

MILITIA BILL.

The following 1 is a summary of the provisions of the New Militia Bill, submitted to the General Assembly. All officers of the Militia are; to be British subjects either by birth or naturalisation.. The Governor of the Colony is> to be the Commander-in-chief of the force which is to be called the New Zealand Militia, and is to consist of all the male inhabitants of New Zealand between the ages of sixteen and fifty- five, who shall have resided for three months in the colony. Lads between sixteen and eighteen years of age are liable to be trained militiamen, but are not liable to> be called out for actual service or lor training. The following persons are exempted irpm service : — The judges of the Supreme Court ; the members of the Executive Council, the members of the General Assembly; the Superintendents of the Provinces; secretaries of the Government; the judges of the Native Land Court or Compensation Court ; civil commissioners; resident magistrates ; justices of the peace; the clergy and certified ministers cf all religious denominations ; the professors in any college or university ; the speakers of provincial councils ; the members of provincial councils during session ; all sheriffs and constables ; all wardens and other officers of a proclaimed gold-field j medical practitioners; the wardens, keepers, and guardials of the common gaols and lunatic. asylurns, and the attendants on the sick in public hospitals ; postmasters, mail carriers, and ferrymen ; masters of public and common schools actually engaged in teaching ; seafaring men actually engaged in their calling; all volunteers enrolled under any Volunteer Act for the time being, force within the colony; all persons afflicted with lunacy, deafness, blindness; or any other disease or infirmity that may render them unfit for service, such disease or infirmity being duly certified by a medical practitioner appointed by the Governor. The aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand, and all persons holding licenses to mine, or carry on business in any proclaimed goldfield, shall also be exempt from training and service in the New Zealand Militia called upon within any district by the Government, by special proclamation in the ' New Zealand Gazette.' The militia is to be divided into the following classes, namely : — lst class— Unmarried men and widowers without children, between 16 and 40 years of age. 2nd class— widowers with children, and married men between .16 and 40 years af age. 3rd class— r-Men between .40 and 45 years of age. The burden of proof of age is to be on the militiaman. The Governor is to appoint an officer to inspect the Militia and Volun^ teers, under the Volunteer Act, 1865, and shall report upon their efficiciency and condition ; such report to be presented to each house of the General Assembly within 14 days from the commencement of each session. The appointment of the officers of the Militia is vested in the Governor, who may constitute districts wherein the men are to serve. A roll of persons liable to serve is to be made, and no one is to be exempt from service through the erroneous omission of his name from such a roh. Every Militia man liable to serve must send in his name to the commanding* officer in t.he month of January in each year, and is at the same |time give notice to the officer commanding of his place of rendezvous, or of any change in his residence under a penalty of LlO. The Com-mSnder-in-Chief is to appoint a convenient place to be the head-quarters of any regiment, and the officer in command shall ' appoint convenient places to be places of rendezvous of the several companies of his I regiment.. . Subject to these limitations ; every militiaman may choose his own rendezvous, and after giving a fortnight's notice to the commanding- officer, may alter such selection. The Commander-in-chief shall cause the whole of the first class to be trained as a military force, but no militia man is to be trained for more than 168 hours, or on more than 24 days in any one year. The training of the second and third class is optional with the governor. The governor may by proclamation call out the whole or any part of the militia in any district for actual service, and they shall continue on actual service until released by . his : authority. A first class militiaman is to be liable to march fifty

miles on service, and a second class militiaman five miles from the head quartersof the regiment. The form of oath to betaken by each militiaman is prescribed,, and volunteers for any particular service must be taken from the first class, except in certain cases. Exemptions for one year are to be purchased for L2O, and substitutes allowed. The term; of actual service is limited to one year. Militiamen,, when on actual service, to- be liable toMutiny^ Act and articles of war, but not tocorporal punishment. The remaining sections of the Act provide for the con*» struction of courts-martial, appointment of permanent, staff, and other matters relating to Che working of the corps; anil concludes with appointing January 1, 1866>. as the time when the; Act shall come into* operation. — 'Dunadin Herald.'