THE MINISTERIAL SCHEME OF ELECTORAL REFORM. —No. 2.

Otago Witness, Issue 342, 19 June 1858, Page 7

THE MINISTERIAL SCHEME OF ELECTORAL REFORM. — No. 2.

(From the New Zealander.) We now continue and complete our analysis , of the eight Electoral Reform measures proposed by the Stafford Ministry ; resuming with No. 5, " A SHI to make provision for the Regulation and Conduct of Election of Members of ifip House of Representatives" The Governor having appointed the Returning Officer for each Electoral District, and notice having been given by that officer of the last day on which Nominations will he received, "such day not being less than five days before the day for taking the poll," (6) any two electors " may nominate as candidates any persons not exceeding the number to be elected" — and (7.) this nomination, which must be in writing, and be accompanied by the assent, also in writing, of the person or persons proposed, must be delivered to the Returning Officer at such place as he shall appoint ; provided always that in lieu of such assent by any nominee in writing, the proposers may deposit £25 with the Returning Officer — which sum, in the event of the person so proposed being elected and refusing to serve, shall be paid over to the Colonial Treasurer in consideration of the expense of a new election ; if there be no refusal to serve, such £25 to be returned to the depositors. 8. The Returning Officer, on the day following the last on which nominations are received, is to examine the nomination papers delivered in : if no more candidates are proposed than there are members to be elected, such candidates are to be declared duly elected, their return to be published in a newspaper or the Provincial Government Gazette, and (9.) their names having been endorsed on the Writ, the Writ to be returned to the Governor. 10. If the numbers proposed exceed the members to be elected, the names of the candidates are to be published, and a poll taken on the day fixed; but (11.) any candidate may withdraw after the nomination, upon giving notice in the form prescribed ; and if each withdrawal should bring the number of candidates down to the number of members to be elected, then the Returning Officer is to declare the other candidates elected, and proceed as prescribed in clauses 8 and 9. Candidates or their proposers may appoint scrutineers to attend in the polling places on their behalf. Clause 14 enacts that " the voting at every election shall be conducted by Ballot in manner hereinafter provided ;" which manner is prescribed in clauses 15 to 24. Returning Officer to provide ballot-boxes and voting papers — the former to be prepared in the form froip'time to time prescribed by the Governor — the latter as follows : — 1. — All the voting papers shall be exactly alike in all respects in their appearance on the outside, and shall have no external mark or other indication by which any one can be distinguished from any others. 2. — The person who shall have charge of the Ballot Box shall sign hi* name on the outside of every Voting Paper, in the place most convenient for the same to be readily seen when the Voting Paper is folded up. 3. — The name of one Candidate only shall be printed, in an easily legible form, on each Voting Paper. 4. The name of every Candidate shall be printed with ink of a colour differing from that with which the name of any other Candidate is printed, so that the Voting Paper for one Candidate may be readily distinguished from the Voting Paper of any other Candidate by the colour of the Ink with which the same it printed. 5. All the Voting Papers shall have under the name of the Candidate the signature of the Returning Officer or of some person deputed by him to sign the same, and the Voting Papers prepared for use at each Polling Place shall be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one. -—(If impracticable to print the names of candidates exactly as prescribed, they may be printed in the most convenient form, or legibly written.) 17. Ballot-boxes and voting papers must be accounted for by the person to whom entrusted, under penalty not exceeding £100. 18. At each polling place a ballot-room, "and especially a private apartment or place into which the voter may retire" to select the voting papers of the candidates for whom he desires to poll. 19. Authenticated copies of Electoral Roll to be provided. 20. Nobody but the Returning Officer or his deputy, and the poll clerks, scrutineers, and (if required) constables to keep order, to remain in the ballot-room during the polling ; and no persons permitted to be with any elector in the private room for selecting voting papers. 21 On the day of election, the voting to be thus conducted : — 1 — The Ballot Box to be so placed as to be plainly seen by Returning Officer, poll clerks, and scrutineers. 2.— Every elector presenting himself to vote, to receive a voting paper for each candidate. 3.— He is thrn to retire to the private apartment or p!?ce before- named, where he selects the papers of the^qandidates he intends to vote for, and must j fold tip each voting paper selected so as to conceal the name of the candidate and exhibit the signature of the Returning Officer (or deputy) or poll clerk on the back. •• 4. — He must then return to the ballot room, and deliver the voting papers he has chosen, folded, to the Returning Officer (or deputy) or poll clerk, v by whom, in the presence of elector and mutineers, such voting papers, shall be deposited in the ballot box. I "V 5. — The elector must then, in the presence of th« aforesaid officers, destroy the voting papers of the candidates for whom he has not voted — either by burning the same, or tearing them up and carrying away the pieces with him, as he thinks fit. 6.— As soon as he has so polled, the name of aueh elector is to be marked off in the authenticated copy of the Electoral Roll, the number of oandi- I dates for whom he has voted being also recorded ;

no other person being permitted to vote in the same name. — Provision is made for electors who cannot read or are blind receiving from the Returning Officer or poll clerk, in the presence of the scrutineers, such information as to the candidates indicated in the voting papers, as will enable them to record their votes without further interference. That electors are to retire from the ballot room directly their voting papers are deposited, and that any elector wil» fully contravening or disobeying any of these regulations shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £100. That no other inquiry as to the right of any elector to vote shall be permitted except as to whether he is the party named in the Electoral Roll, or whether he has previously voted — and then only prior to, not after, his having entered the private apartment to select his voting papers. Clauses 26 to 32 provide for the administration of oath to parties claiming to vote ; penalties for false swearing; taking into custody, examination, and committal of persons charged with personation — empowering Justices, if satisfied charge is unfounded, to award compensation to any person so wrongfully charged. 33. In case of any riot interrupting the polling, the Returning Officer may adjourn polling till the riot has ceased, resuming it on the cessation of the riot and continuing it so that it shall be kept open seven hours in the whole ; but no such adjournment must extend beyond the day fixed for the return of the Writ ; and should the election not be completed by that time, a special return of the facts preventing ruch election from being completed, to be made by the Returning Officer. The remaining clauses provide for what is to be done subsequent to clo^e of election. The ballot boxes at all the polling places are to be sealed up in the presence of scrutineers, who also may affix a seal if they think fit. All these sealed ballot boxes, authenticated copies of Electoral Roll, and unused voting papers, are then to be forwarded to the principal Returning Officer ; and any person found guilt}' of tampering with the ballot boxes or voting papers, will be guilty of misdemeanor and liable to fine and imprisonment (not exceeding- three years) with hard labour. After having received the ballot boxes from the several polling places, the Returning Officer for each Electoral District is (after at least 24 hours' notice) to open the same at the principal polling- place, in the presence of each candidate or his scrutineers, and declare which candidate or caudidates have the greatest number of votes and are therefore elected — deciding by his casting vote where two or more candidates are equal in numbers (but no Returning Officer — though any Deputy- Returning Officer may vote in the district for which he is registered) : should the number of voting papers for any candidate exceed the number of electors polled (as appears by marked Electoral Roll), such excess to be taken off. The voting papers in the ballot boxes are afterwards to be compared with the names of electors marked off on the Electoral Roll, to see that the numbers correspond, and should there be a discrepancy the officer in charge of the ballot box in respect of which it occurs, will be liable to a penalty not exceeding £300, unless such discrepancy is satisfactorily accounted for in the presence of the scrutineers. Unavoidable delay or technical objections are not to invalidate proceedings ; and to meet unforeseen difficulties and delays that may arise, owing to the distance from the Seat of Government, or to their extent, of divers of the Electoral Districts, the Governor in Council is empowered, should any such exigence arise, to extend the time for holding an election on the return of the Writ, and to take such other steps as may be requisite to remove any obstacle of a technical or formal nature by which the due course of such election might be impeded. The Act to come into operation January Ist, 1859. Short Title— "The Regulation of Elections Act, 1858." The Schedule contains ten forms.

No. 6 is " A Bill to make provision for the Trial of Petitions against the Rettcrn of Members,'" $fc. It has 46 clauses. Petitioners (who must be electors) are now to enter in each case inttt^, bond to the Speaker of the House, for £100, with sureties for an additional £100, for payment of costs and expenses. The Speaker to appoint an Examiner of Bonds either the Clerk of the House or some other person. All bonds, affidavits, &c, to he sworn before the Examiner or a Justice and then delivered to Clerk of the House. Money may be paid into a Bank (to be designated by Examiner, and in his name as trustee) in lieu of security, but not of petitioners' bond. No petition to be received unless endorsed by Examiner that the requisite bond and sureties have been entered into. Bonds ami affidavits to be open to inspection, and sureties may be objected to, such objections to he heard and decided by the Examiner— in case of insufficiency or death, the money in question may be paid into bank. Petitioner may withdraw petition on notice and payment of costs. If a member petitioned against shall decline, by notice to the Speaker, that he will not defend his election, any elector may petition to defend such return. Election-petition Committees to be chosen thus: a list to be made of all members available to serve ; each party shall then choose each one member, which two members shall be members of the committee. The Speaker then to appoint a chairman, after which each party is to strike of. alternately, a name from the 'said list until the number is reduced to four, and those four, with the two before chosen and the chairman, to constitute the committee to try the petition. If through non-attendance, the committee is reduced to less than three in number, it is to be dissolved and a fresh one appointed — unless both parties consent that such remaining mem- .

hers of committee should dispose of the petition. Committee not to be dissolved by prorogation of Assembly, and to have the power of awarding costs on either side. Short Title— "Election Petitions Act, 1858."

No. 7 is " A Bill for the Prevention of Corrupt Practices at Elections." — The provisions of this measure are very stringent, and are so framed as to meet every case of indirect as well as direct bribery, whether in the shape of money-gifts, loans, or promises to procure employment or appointment, and every such offence is declared a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment, the offender being liable to forfeit £100 with costs of suit, to the party who shall sue for the same. " Treating" of every kind, whether in meat or drink, strictly prohibited ; and " undue influence" as strictly defined, and rendered liable to fine and imprisonment, and to a forfeit of £50 to any person who may sue for the same. All persons convicted of bribery or undue influence to be expunged from Electoral Roll ; and any persons giving refreshments on day of polling to forfeit 40s. No cockades or other mark of party distinction to be given on pain of penalty of 40s. and cost 3to party who may sue. Candidates' committees not to sit at public-houses, and no poll to be taken in a public-house. Penalties recoverable in the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Candidates declared guilty of bribery, incapable of being elected for same district before next general election. Short Title— " Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1858."

No. B—the8 — the last of the series — though short, is most comprehensive and important as regards the Provinces. It is " A Bill to amend the Law relating to the Elections of Superintendents of Provinces, and Membe?-s of Provincial Councils." It provides that the Superintendent and Council may divide the Provinces into electoral districts ; and that every person entitled to he registered as an elector for the House of Representatives is entitled to vote for Superintendent and Members of Provincial Council. That the Electoral Roll for the House of Representatives shall be evidence of the right of the persons thereon to vote at Provincial elections. That until otherwise ordered either by General or Provincial Legislature, Provincial elections, (both for Superintendents and Members of Council) shall be conducted in manner prescribed by the Proclamation of Governor Grey, of March 1853 ; but that for the election of Superintendent, "the whole of such Province shall be deemed to be one electoral district, that one writ only shall be issued for such election," and the nomination be held at the capital town of the Province. That the disputed right of any person to be Superintendent, or Member of Council, be determined on information in the nature of a quo warranto, except in cases provided for by Section 11 of the Constitution Act ; and that writ of mandamus lie in all cases where applicable. That the " Corrupt Practices Act, 1858," shall apply to Provincial elections ; and that the present Act shall apply to every Province now or hereafter to be established in the Colony of New Zealand. Short title— " Provincial Elections Act, 1858."