REGISTRATION ORDINANCE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 260, 26 January 1848, Page 4

REGISTRATION ORDINANCE.

An Ordinance for Registering Births, Deaths and Marriages in the colony of New Zealand. [Passed the 15th day of October, 1847.] Whereas it is expedient to provide the means for a Register of the Births, Deaths, and Marriages of her Majesty's subjects in the colony' of New Zealand. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows : — I. REGISTER OFFICES AND OFFICERS. 1. For the purposes hereinafter mentioned, there shall be appointed fit persons who shall be, and be called the " Registrar General," and " Depnty Registrars" of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and who shall exercise the several duties, of this Ordinance, appointed to be exercised by such Registrar General, and Deputy Registrars respectively. 2. Every such ■ Registrar General, and Deputy Registrar, shall be appointed by her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and shall hold his office during her Majesty's pleasure. Provided that it shall be lawful for the Governor to appoint any such Registrar General, or Deputy Registrar provisionally, until her Majesty's pleasure shall be known ; and in case any,, such Registrar, General, or Deputy Registrar, shall,, by reason of sickness, absence, suspension, from office, or other causes, be unable, to discharge the duties of his office, it shall be lawful for the Governor to appoint a fit person to .act in the place of such .Regis-trar-General, or Deputy Registrar, as long as suph inability as aforesaid shall continue. 3. The said Registrar General, and Deputy Registrars, shall be, and they are hereby entitled to levy, and receive, the several fees authorised to be collected by them respective-

ly, under, and by virtue of this Ordinance, and of the Ordinance entitled ' { An Ordinance for regulating Marriages in the colony of New Zealand," to be applied in manner hereinafter provided. 4. It shall be lawful for the Registrar General, with the approbation of the Governor, to make regulations, not being repugnant to the provisions of this Ordinance, for the management of the register office, or register offices to be established for the purposes hereof, and for the duties 0/ the Deputy Registrars, in the execution of this Ordinance, and the regulations so to be made and affirmed as aforesaid, shall be binding on the Deputy Registrars. 5. The Registrar General, shall once in every six months, file a copy of the registers kept by him during the foregoing six months, in the General Registry Office, to be deposited and kept with the other records of the said office, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. 6. It shall be lawful for the Governor, by proclamation to be for that purpose issued, to divide the colony of New Zealand into such, and so many districts, as he shall think fit, and every such district shall be called by a distinct name, and shall be a deputy registrar's district ; Provided always, that it shall be lawful for the Governor to revoke such proclamation, and to issue from time to time, a new proclamation, dividing the colony anew, into such, and so many districts, as he shall think fit ; Provided also, that the number of districts once constituted, shall not be reduced by any such new proclamation, and that no such proclamation shall invalidate the acts of any deputy registrar appointed previously to the issuing of the same. 7. The Registrar General shall furnish to every Deputy Registrar, a sufficient number of register books of Births, of register books of Deaths, and of register books of Marriages, and of forms for certified copies thereof, as hereinafter provided ; and every Registrar General, and Deputy Registrar, shall be authorised, and is hereby required, to inform himself carefully of every Birth, Death, and Marriage, that shall happen within his district, and to enter, and register, as soon after the event as conveniently can be done, without fee or reward, save as hereinafter mentioned, in one of the said books, the particulars required to be registered, according to the forms in the schedules A. B. and C, hereunto annexed, touching every such Birth, Death, or Marriage, as the case may be, which shall not have been already registered, every such entry being made in order, from the beginning to the end of the book. 8. Every such Registrar General and Deputy Registrar appointed under the provisions of this Ordinance, shall be freed and exempted from being returned, and from serving on any Jury, or inquest, and from every parochial and corporate office whatever. 11. REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS. 9. The father or mother of any child born, or the occupier of every house or tenement in the colony of New Zealand, in which any Birth or Death shall happen, shall, in the case of the birth of a child, under a penalty not exceeding £10, within 42 days next, after the day of such birth, and in case of a death, within 10 days after the day of such death, respectively, give notice of such birth or death, to the Deputy Registrar of the district ; and in case any new born child, or any dead body shall be found exposed, a constable of the district, in the case of a new born child, and the Coroner, in the case of a dead body, shall forthwith give notice and information thereof, and of the place where such child or dead body was found, to the Deputy Registrar. 10. For the purposes of this Ordinance, the master or keeper of every Gaol, Prison, House of Correction, or Hospital, or Lunatic Asylum, or public or charitable Institution, shall be deemed the occupier thereof. ! 11. The father or mother of every child born in the colony, or in case of the death, illness, absence, or inability of the father or mother, the occupier of the house or tenement in which such child shall have been born, shall, within 42 days next after the day of every such birth, give information, upon being requested so to do, to the Deputy Registrar, according to the best of his or her knowledge or belief, of the several particulars hereby required to be known and registered, touching the birth of such child. 12. After the expiration of 42 days, following the day of the birth of any child, it shall not be lawful for the Deputy Registrar to register such birth, save as hereinafter is next mentioned, Provided that, in case the birth of any child shall not have been registered according to the provisions hereinbefore contained, it shall be lawful for any person, present at the birth of such child, or for the father or guardian thereof, at any time within six calendar months, next after the birth, to make a solemn declaration of the particulars required to be known, touching the birth of auch child, according to the best of his, or her

knowledge and belief, and it shall thereupon be lawful for the Deputy Registrar, then and there to register the birth of the said child, according to the information of the person making the said declaration ; and in every such case, the Deputy Registrar before whom the said declaration is made, shall sign the entry of the birth, ajid for every such registry as last aforesaid, the Deputy Registrar shall be entitled to have a fee of Ten Shillings and Sixpence, from the person requiring the same to be registered. 13. Every person who shall knowingly register or cause to be registered, the birth of any child, otherwise than hereinbefore is last mentioned, after the expiration of 42 days following the day of the birth of such child, shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, a sum not exceeding £50, to be recovered in a summary way. 14. Provided always, that nothing hereinbefore contained shall be taken to extend to prevent the registration of the birth of any child, although born at sea, or out of the colony, of parents whose ordinary place of abode is within the colony. But it shall be lawful for the Deputy Registrar, upon a solemn declaration of the parents or guardians of such child, of such particulars of the birth of the child, as are hereinbefore required, then and there to register the birth of the child, according to such information. 15. After the expiration of six calendar months, following the birth of any child born within the colony, it shall not be lawful for any Deputy Registrar to register the birth of such child, and no register, or certified copy of a register of births, shall be given in evidence to prove the birth of any such child, wherein it shall appear that six calendar months have intervened between the day of the birth and the day of the registration of the birth of such child. 16. Every person who shall knowingly register, or cause to be registered, the birth of any child so born v/ithin the colony as aforesaid, except as hereinbefore provided for, after the expiration of six calendar months, following the day of the birth of such child, shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, a sum not exceeding £50, to be recovered in a summary way. 17. If any child born within the colony, whose birth shall have been registered as aforesaid, shall within six calendar months next after it shall have been so registered, have any name given to it in baptism, or in the presence of any Deputy Registrar, the parent or guardian of such child, or other person procuring such name to be given, shall within seven days next after such baptism, or the giving of such name, procure and deliver to the Deputy Registrar, in whose custody the register of the birth of the child may then happen to be, a certificate according to the form in schedule D., to this Ordinance annexed, signed by the Minister, who shall have performed the rite of baptism, or by the Deputy Registrar who shall have been present when the name was given, which certificate, such Minister, or Deputy Registrar as the case may be, is hereby required to deliver immediately after the baptism, or immediately after the name has been given, whenever the same shall be then demanded, on the payment of the fee of One Shilling, which he shall be therefore entitled to receive ; and the Deputy Registrar, upon the receipt of such certificate, and on payment of the fee of One Shilling, which he shall be therefore entitled to receive, shall without any erasure of the original entry, forthwith register therein, that the child was baptised by such name, or had such name given to it in his presence, and the Deputy Registrar shall thereupon certify upon the said certificate, the additional entry so made ; Provided always, that nothing hereinbefore contained shall be taken to extend to any child born previously to the commencement of this Ordinance, but it shall be lawful for the parent or guardian of any such child, to cause his birth to be registered under the same provisions as by this Ordinance are attached to the registration of the birth of children born within the colony, subsequently to the commencement of this Ordinance.^ (To be continued.)