H—22

The Electoral Regulations 1928, Amendment No. 4 These regulations prescribed simplified forms of declaration for use by absent and declaration voters. The Compulsory Military Training Poll On the 3rd August, 1949, a special poll was taken in all electorates under the Military Training Poll Act, 1949, on the question of compulsory military training. A special supplementary roll, which closed on the 11th July, was printed and used at this poll in conjunction with the 1946 rolls and the supplement prepared for the gaming and licensing polls. The return of votes polled and the declaration of the result of the poll were gazetted on the 25th August, 1949. Cleansing of Rolls A restricted cleansing procedure was followed in preparing the rolls for the general election. As those who had voted as ordinary voters at the recent gaming and licensing polls could be assumed to be still residing in the electorates in which they had voted, inquiry notices were sent only to those who had not voted or who had voted as absent voters outside the electorates for which they were registered. This procedure reduced below normal the risk of removing names of persons who were qualified to vote, and was as effective in ensuring clean rolls as the usual system of sending notices to all registered electors. Preparation and Printing of Rolls Upon completion of the cleansing work, the preparation of the rolls for printing was proceeded with. The general rolls for European electorates were closed on the sth September, and the supplementary rolls on the 7th November. In accordance with the usual practice, the roll-printing work was allocated, through the Federation of Master Printers of New Zealand, to printers situated in or near to the headquarters' towns of the various electorates. Maori Rolls To avoid the period when printing facilities throughout the country would be taxed to capacity in the production of the European rolls, the Maori rolls were closed on the 20th June, to which date 31,091 enrolments had been effected. The supplementary rolls for the Maori electorates were closed for printing on the 7th November with 3,805 further names. General Election and Licensing Polls Writs for the general election were issued on the 7th November, 1949, fixing the following dates : —- Nomination day .. .. .. .. 16th November. Polling-day— Maori .. .. .. .. .. 29th November. European .. .. .. .. 30th November. Writs returnable by .. .. 17th December. Contested elections were held in all electorates, 196 candidates (European and Maori) being nominated. Simultaneously with the parliamentary elections the general licensing poll was taken in all electorates (including Maori electorates), and in each no-licence district the usual local-option licensing poll was held. 2—H 22

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