Sec. III.—General Regulations.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 116, 26 March 1853, Page 8

Sec. lll.—General Regulations.

22.— Qualification of Voters. Pursuant to the Provisions of the above recited Act, every man of the age of 21 years and upwards, having a freehold estate in possession, situate within the District for which the vote is to be given, of the clear value of Fifty Pounds above all charges and incumbrances, and of or to which he has been seized or entitled, either at Law or in Equity for at least six calendar months next before the last Registration of Electors —or having a Leasehold Estate in possession situate within such a district, of the clear annual value of Ten Pounds, held upon a lease which at the time of such Registration shall have not less than three years to run—or having a Leasehold Estate so situate and of such value as aforesaid, of which he has been in possession for three years or upwards before Such Registration—or being a householder within such district occupying a Tenement within the limits of the Town, of the clear annual value of Ten Pounds—or without the limits o£ a Town, of the clear annual value of Five Pounds, having resided therein six calendar months next before such Registration as ', aforesaid, shall, if duly registered be entitled to vote at the Election of a Superintendent of a Province, or of a Member or Members of the Provincial Council thereof, or of a Member or Members of the House of Representatives, provided that he is not an alien—and that he has not at any time heretofore been attainted or convicted of any treason, felony, or any infamous offence within any part of Her Majesty's Dominions, unless he shall have received a free pardon, or shall have undergone the sentence or punishment to which he shall have been adjudged for such offence; 23.— Claim to be preferred. No person shall be qualified to vote at the Election of any Superintendent of a Province, or of any Member of the House of Representatives, or of the Members of the Provincial Council of any of the Provinces as aforesaid, unless he shall prefer a claim to the right of voting, and unless such claim be duly enrolled as hereafter prescribed. 24.— Form, &c, of Claim. Every such Claim shall be in, writing, and shall state the name of the District or Districts in respect of which it shall he made, and shall be signed by the Claimant, or by some other person in his name and by his authority, and shall state also the place of abode and calling or business of the Claimant, and the qualification in respect of which such claim may be made. 25.— When to be preferred. No such Claim as aforesaid shall be received unless it be made between the loth day of April next and the 15th day of May next, or in the month of April in some succeeding year. 26.— Whereto be preferred for certain Districts. Every person claiming a right to vote for the Election of the Members of the House of Representatives—of the Superintendent—or of the Members of the Provincial Council in the follow Districts:-— PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY. 1. The Town of Christchurch, 2. The Christchurch Country District, shall deliver his Claim, or cause the same to be delivered, at the Resident Magistrate's Office at Christchurch, or at such other place or places as the Resident Magistrate at Lyttelton may, by public notice, direct and appoint. 3. The Town op Lyttelton, shall deliver his Claim, or cause the same to be delivered at the Resident Magistrate's Office at Lyttelton. 4. The Akaroa District, shall deliver his Claim, or cause the same to be delivered, at the Resident Magistrate's Office at Akaroa. 27. — List of Claims to be prepared. On the Fifteenth day of May next, and on the. Thirtieth day of April in every succeeding year, or as soon after as conveniently may he, the Resident Magistiate, or some other fit person or persons to be appointed by the Governor in that behalf, at each of the above-named offices in the respective Districts in the Islands of New Zealand and several Provinces 'as aforesaid, shall respectively cause a list to be prepared of I the Claims which -have been delivered at such 1 respective offices as aforesaid, in pursuance of

this Proclamation, setting forth the Christian and Surname of every Claimant at full length, together with his place of abode, calling, or business, and the ground on which his claim may be made, and arranging the names hi alphabetical order, and classing them for the several Districts for which they may respectively claim to he entitled to vote. 28.— And to be Published. On or before tbe Fifteenth day of June next, every such Resident .Magistrate/or other person as aforesaid, shall, as soon as conveniently may be, cause a copy of the List of Claims, and in the month oi June, in every succeeding year, shall cause a copy of the List of Claims which may have been preferred in pursuance of this Proclamation, together with a copy of the Electoral Roll then in force, to be posted in some conspicuous place in the District, to whicl^ the said List and Roll shall especially relate, and shall subjoin thereto a Notice, that all objections thereto will be heard and determined at a meeting of Justices open to the Public, and to be held on a day to be specified in such Notice, not being more than one calendar month after the date thereof. 29.— Justices to prepare Electoral Roll. Each such Resident Magistrate brother person shall call a Special Meeting of the Justices of the Peace, residing within the District or Districts to which the said Claims may relate, to be held on the day so to be specified as aforesaid, for the purpose of hearing and determining objections to such List and Roll as aforesaid, and of forming the Roll for the ensuing year of persons qualified to vote under the provisions of the said recited Ordinance. 30.— Objections to Claims. Any person whose name shall be on any such List or Roll may object to any other person as not entitled to have his name retained on the Electoral Roll. But the person so objecting shall, ten days at least before the day appointed for the formation of such Electoral Roll, cause notice in writing of such objection, and of the ground thereof, to be given to the Resident Magistrate or other the person acting for the District, and also to the person objected to. 31. — Electoral Roll how to be Formed. At the meeting to be held for the formation of the said Electoral Roll, or at some adjournment of such meeting, the Justices (any two being a quorum) shall retain on the .List of Claims, and on the Roll then in force, the names of all persons to whom no objection shall have been duly made, and shall also retain on the said Lists and Rolls the name of every person who shall have been objected to, unless the party objecting shall appear in person in support of such objections, and shall also prove due service of his notice of objection. 32. — Proof of qualification in what case required. In case the party objecting shall make his objections in person, and shall prove such service of notice as aforesaid, the Court shall require proof of the qualification of the person so objected to : and in case, the qualification of such person shall not be proved to.the satisfaction of the Court, the name of such person^, shall be expunged from the List or Roll. The' Court shall also expunge therefrom the name of every person who shall be proved to be dead, and shall correct any mistake, or shall supply any omission, which should be proved to have been made therein respectively, in respect of the name or the place of abode of any person who shall be included therein, or in respect of the local description of his property; and tbe Lists and Roll so corrected shall form the Electoral Roll for the ensuing year, and shall be signed by the Resideut Magistrate, or other the person presiding at such meeting of Justices as aforesaid. 33.— The Electoral Roll hoiv long in force. The persons whose names shall be so enrolled thereon shall be deemed and taken to be the Electors of the District until the completion of the " Electoral Roll" for the year next ensuing: and every person whose name shall appear upon such "Electoral Roll" shall be deemed and taken to be duly qualified to vote for the District in respect of which his name shall appear upon such Roll without any further or other inquiry, revision, or scrutiny whatever. And when the name of any person claiming to be placed upon such Roll'shall once have been duly enrolled thereon, such name shall from year, to year contiuue to be published as

aforesaid, and be retained on the Electoral Roll for the time being without any further claim on the part of the Elector, until his name be objected to and shall be duly expunged in maimer hereinbefore prescribed. 34.— Copy of Electoral Roll to be published. As soon as conveniently may be after the annual revision of such Roll, the Resident Magistrate, or such other person as aforesaid, shall cause copies thereof to be published for general information : and the original Roll shall be preserved by him as long as it shall remain in force, open to the inspection of any Elector, at reasonable times, on payment of one shilling. 35. — Polling Places. *-" PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY. The Polling Places for the following Districts in the Province of Canterbury, viz.:— 1. The Town of Christchurch, 2. The Christchurch Country District, shall be at some convenient place in the Town of Christchurch to be specified by the Returning Officer. 3. The Town of Lyttelton, shall be at some convenient place in tbe Town of Lyttelton to be specified by the Returning Officer. 4. The Akaroa District, shall be at some convenient place at Akaroa to be specified by the Returning Officer. 36. — Additional Polling Places. If additional Polling Places are found necessary for any of the Districts in the above mentioned Provinces, they shall be at such places as the Governor, or the Superintendent of the Province, may from time to time, by public notice, appoint. 37.— Principal Returning Officers of Capital Towns. The Principal Returning Officer of the Capital Town of each Province shall be tbe Resident Magistrate of the District in which such Capital Town is situated, or such other person as the Governor may from time to time appoint. Returning Officers. The Returning Officers for the above mentioned Electoral Districts in the Islands of New Zealand, and situated respectively in the Provinces above named, shall be tbe Resident Magistrate residing in the District, or such other person as the Governor, or the person deputed by him in that behalf, may from, time to time appoint. 38. — Writs for Elections. The Writs for the Election of the Superintendents of Provinces, of the Members of the House of Representatives, and of the Members of the Provincial Councils, shall be issued by the Governor under his hand, and shall be directed to the Returning Officer for the District, and shall state the number of days within which such Writs shall be made returnable to the said Governor. 39. — Issue of Writs for supplying Vacancies in Provincial Councils. Whenever it shall be established to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of any one of the Provinces as aforesaid, that the seat of any Member of the Provincial Council of such Province has become vacant, the Superintendent shall forthwith issue a Writ for the Election of a new Member to serve in the place so vacated during the remainder of the term of the continuance of such Council, and no longer. 40. — Days for Nomination and Election hoio fixed. The Returning Officer shall endorse on the Writ the day on which he may have received it, and shall fix the day of Nomination, and also tbe day on which the voting, if necessary, shall take place, and shall give not less than Fourteen days Public Notice thereof respectively. 41.: — Returning Officer to preside at Nomination. On the day of Nomination so to be fixed as aforesaid, the Returning Officer shall preside at a meeting to be holden at noon, at the chief Polling Place for the District, and shall declare 1 the purpose for which such meeting is held: And if at such meeting there be no more candidates proposed than the number of Members to be returned, the Returning Officer shall declare such Candidate or Candidates to be duly elected, and shall make bis return accordingly. 42. — In case of a Contest. In the event of there being more Candidates than the number to be elected, the Returning

Officer shall call for a show of hands separately in favour of each Candidate, and after such shew of hands, shall declare the person or persons on whom the Election has fallen, and shall return tbe same accordingly, unless a Poll be demanded by some one of the Candidates, or by not less than six Electors on his behalf. 43.— 1n case a Poll be demanded. On such demand as aforesaid being made for a Poll, the Polling shall be taken on the day so to be h'xed as aforesaid, the voting to commence at any time after nine o'clock of the said day, and: to close at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. " 44.— The Polling. The Polling shall take place before the Returning Officer or his Deputy, and the voting shall be conducted in the manner following, that is to say,— 45.— Mode of Voting. Every Elector for the District may vote for any number of persons'not exceeding the number of persons then to be chosen, by delivering to the Returning Officer or his Deputy a Voting Paper containing the Christian names and Surnames of the persons for whom he votes, together with their place of abode and description, and signed with the name of the Elector so voting, and setting forth his own place of abode and description. 46. — What enquiry may be made. No enquiry shall be permitted at any such Election as to the right of any person to vote except only as follows . that is to say, the Returning Officer or his deputy shall, if required by any two Electors for the District, put to any voter at the time of his delivering in of his Voting Paper, and not afterwards, the following question?, and no others:— 1. Are you the person whose name is signed as (A.8.) to the Voting Paper now delivered in by you ? 2. Are you the person whose name appears as (A.8.) on the Electoral Roll now in force for the district of ( ) ? 3. Have you already voted at the present Election ? And no person required to answer any of the said questions shall be permitted or qualified to vote until he shall have answered the same, the first two affirmatively, and the last negatively. 47.— State of the Poll in certain cases to be declared. As soon as conveniently may be after the election of Members of tbe House of Representatives, and of Members of the Provincial Council, shall have been held, the Returning Officer for the District shall, at the place of nomination, openly declare the state of tbe Poll, and shall at the same time declare the name or names of the person or persons who may have been duly elected at such election. And in the event of the number of votes being, found to have been equal for any two or more Candidates, be shall by his casting vote declare which of the said Candidates shall be elected ; provided that no Returning Officer shall vote at any Election of which he is the Returning Officer, except in. the case of an equality of votes as aforesaid. 48.— Names of persons elected Members of the House of Representatives or of a Provincial Council to be inserted in Writ. The name or names of the person or persons so elected as Member of a Provincial Council, or as Member of the House of Representatives, shall be inserted in or endorsed upon the Writ by the Returning Officer ; and such Writ shall be returned by him to the Governor or to the Superintendent, in the case of an election to supply a vacancy in tbe Provincial Council within the time when such Writ may be returnable. 49.— State of the Poll in certain cases to be declared. As soon as conveniently may be after the voting for the election- of a Superintendent of a Province has closed in any Electoral District, the Returning Officer of such District shall openly declare the state of the Poll, and shall, as soon as conveniently may be, transmit a certified copy of the same to the Principal Returning Officer of the Capital Town of the Province for which such Election may have taken place ; and such principal Returning Officer, so soon as he has received from the several Returning Officers of each electoral district in the province certified copies of the state

of the Poll in each district, shall openly declare and publicly notify the same ; and shall at the same time openly declare and publicly notify the name of tbe person who may have been duly elected at such election, by a majority of the voters of the whole province, to be Superintendent thereof: and, in the event of the number of votes being found to have been equal for any two or more Candidates, such principal Returning Officer shall, by his casting vote, declare which of the said Candidates shall be elected; provided that such principal Returning Officer shall not vote at the Election of the Superintendent of tbe Province of which he is principal Returning Officer, except in the case of an equality of votes as aforesaid. 50.— State of the Poll in each District to be inserted in Writ at Election for Superinten dent. The Returning Officer for each Electoral District, at the election for the office of Superintendent, shall insert in or endorse upon the Writ the state of the Poll when the voting in the district closed; and such Writ shall then be returned by him to the Governor within the time by which such Writ may be returnable. 51.— Voting Papers to be preserved. The voting papers, at such election, shall be kept, for the space of six calendar months after such election, by the Returning Officer, who shall permit any elector to inspect the same upon payment of one shilling. 52. — Nevj Writ in certain cases. In case any Writ to be issued by the Governor, or by any Superintendent, for supplying a vacancy shall not be duly executed, or in case no valid election shall be made by virtue thereof, the Governor or Superintendent, as the case may be, shall issue a Writ, directing the Returning Officer to proceed to a public election, in manner and subject to the provisions hereinbefore prescribed. 53. — Objections to validity of Return of Superintendents. All complaints of the undue return of Superintendents of Provinces shall be addressed in the form of petition to the Governor of New Zealand, stating the general objections. But no such petition shall be noticed, nor any proceedings taken thereon, unless it be signed by some person who was a Candidate at the election whereof it may be alleged that an undue return was made, or by a number of persons who voted, or were qualified to have voted at the said election, amounting to not less than one-twentieth of the whole number on the list of electors ; and no such petition shall be noticed which shall not be delivered to the principal Returning Officer of the capital town of the province, for immediate transmission to the Governor, within fourteen days from the day of election ; nor unless a copy thereof shall have been served upon the party whose return shall he objected to within such period of fourteen days as aforesaid. 54.— Objections to validity of return of Members of the House of Representatives. All complaints of the undue return of Members to serve in the House of Representatives shall be addressed in the form of petition to the Governor, stating the ground of objection. But no petition shall be noticed, nor any proceedings had thereon, unless it be signed by some person who was a Candidate at the election whereof it may be alleged that an undue return was made, or by a number of persons who voted, or who were qualified to have voted at the said election, amounting to not less than one-twentieth of the whole number on the list of electors; and no such petition shall be noticed which shall not be delivered to the Returning Officer of the district, for immediate transmission to the Governor, within twenty - one days from the day of election ; nor unlessa copy thereof shall have been served upon the party whose return shall be objected to within such period of twenty-one days as aforesaid. Within ten days after such petitiou shall have been received at the office of the Civil Secretary from the Returning Officer, if the General Assembly be then sitting, or if the Assembly be not then sitting, within ten days after its next meeting, tbe Governor, or some other person duly authorised by him in that behalf, shall cause such petition to be referred to the said General Assembly, and the validity of the return so complained of shall be decided by such General Assembly, or by such other tribunal • and in such manner as the said Assembly shall direct and appoint.

55.— Objections to validity of return of Members of Provincial Council. All complaints of the undue return of Members to serve in the Provincial Council shall be addressed in the form of petition to the Superintendent of the Province, stating the ground of objection. But no petition shall be noticed, nor any proceedings bad thereon, unless it be signed by some person who was a Candidate at the election whereof it may be alleged that an undue return was made, or by a number of persons who voted, or who were qualified to have voted at the said election, amounting to not less than one-twentieth of the whole number on the list of electors. And no such petition shall be noticed which shall not be delivered to the Returning Officer of the district, for immediate transmission to the Superintendent of the Province within tvventy-one days from the day of election ; nor unless a copy thereof shall have been served upon the party whose return shall be objected to within such period of twenty-one days as aforesaid. Within ten days after any such petition shall have been received by the Superintendent from the Returning Officer, if the said Council be then sitting, or if the Council be not then sitting, within ten days after its next meeting the Superintendent, or some other person duly authorised by him in that behalf, shall cause such petition to be referred to the said Council, and the validity of the return so complained of shall be decided by such Council, or by such other tribunal and in such manner as the said Council shall direct and appoint. 56—Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, , Nelson, Christchurch, Lyttelton, and Dunedin, to be deemed Towns for purposes of this Proclamation ; and Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin, to be deemed Capital Towns for the purposes of this Proclamation. And I hereby further proclaim and declare, that Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Lyttelton, and Dunedin, shall be deemed and taken to be Towns for the purposes of this Proclamation: And I hereby further proclaim and declare, that, for the purposes of this Proclamation, the town of Auckland shall be deemed and taken to be the Capital Town of the Province of Auckland; the town of New Plymouth to be the Capital Town of the Province of New Plymouth ; the town of Wellington to be the Capital Town of the Province of Wellington; the town of Nelson to be the Capital Town of the Province of Nelson : the town of Christchurch to be the Capital Town of the Province of Canterbury; and tbe town of Dunedin to be the Capital Town of the Province of Otago. 57.— Proclamation to take effect from date. This Proclamation shall take effect from the day of the date hereof. Given under my hand, and issued under the public Seal of the Islands of New Zealand, at Government House, at (L.S.) Wellington, in the province of Wellington, in the islands aforesaid, this : fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three. G. Grey, Govemor-in-Chief. By His Excellency's command, Alfred Domett, Civil Secretary. Gor> Save the Queen! Schedule E. PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY. Description op Districts. 1. The Town of Christchurch District, comprises the site of the town of Christchurch as shown on the plans of the Canterbury Association in their office at Christchurch. . 2. The Christchurch Country District comprises all that tract of land within the province of Canterbury which is not comprised in " tbe Town of Christchurch District," in " the Town of Lyttelton District," or in " the Akaroa District." 3. The Town of Lyttelton District comprises the site of the town of Lyttelton as shewn in the plans of the Canterbury Association in their office at Christchurch. 4. The Akaroa District comprises all that portion of Banks' Peninsula, which is bounded on the north, south,-and east by the sea, and on the west by a right line drawn from a point on

the northern coast of Banks' Peninsula, midway between the eastern head of Port Levy and the western head of Pigeon Bay, due north and south across Banks' Peninsula, until it meets the sea on the south coast of the said Peninsula.