THE REGULATION OF ELECTIONS BILL.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2257, 27 June 1881, Page 4

THE REGULATION OF ELECTIONS BILL.

[By Tsi,RGHJAi'n.]

[FBOir Tint OWN COBHirsrOSDUNT OF TUB "raitaa"] WELLINGTON", Juno 25. Tho Regulation or Elections Bill i- i<o*

printed, H'irt fl ully approved for iotroduJ bn. It contain* seventy-six elausee and tight ■ohedules Ii > fills tho Aote of 1870 14, and sections 43, 49,aud 50 cf tho Constitution Act. Tho fill wing uro tho principal now clauses :—l. Relating to general eleotions and nominations : It ia enaotod that for every general tloution tho Governor ahull, by warrant undor this schedule, direct tho clerk of writs to pro.-L'od with elootiong on receipt of anoh warrant. T. v <» clerk of writa shall forthwith cmso wril- to to issued to the soveral returning officers. Writa shall be made returnable within forty doys. In writa to be issued a day ah -11 ho named for tho polling (if a poll i» r< quired to tako placo), and tho same day shall he app noted in each writ for the polling. Every returning officer, on receipt of r,ho writ, shall endorse thereon the date of receipt, and shall forthwith give at least fifteen days notioa of the day of nomination and of tho day of polling. The day of nomination shall not be more than ten nor lest than five d»ya before the day appointed for polling. Every e!o3tor desiring to bo a candidate for any distriot shall, on or before ■the day of nomination, give notice thereof to tho returning officer by a nomination paper. Any duly registered elector who has given his consent thereto in writing or by telegraph, transmitted and enrtified in the manner required by section fifty-two may be nominated as a candidate for election for any distriot, in tho manner and within the_ time aforesaid. Each candidate shall be nominated by a separate nominotion paper in such manner as in tho opinion of the returningoffieer is calculated to sufficiently identify suoh candidate, hut the same electors, or any of them, may aubscribo as many nominationpapers as there uro vacancies to be filled, but no more. No objoction to a nomination paper on the ground of tho description of the candidate tving insufficient, or not being in compliance with this ru!o, shall be allowed or deemed valid, unless suoh objection is made not less then three days before the day appointed for tho poll. Every person nominating himself, and every body of ten electors nominating a candidate shall, at tho time of the delivery of the nomination paper, deposit the sum of £lO in the hands of the returningofficer. The sum so deposited shall, after the election, bo returned to the person or persons by whom it W 99 deposited, if the person on account of whoso candidate it was so deposited shall have polled no leas than oneflfth of the number of votes polled by the who heads tho poll at thd diction ; but if (be candidate shall not poll the afore' ■aid number of votea, tho sum deposited shall be forfeited, and shall be paid into the public account. On receipt of every suoh Holies or nomination, and of the sum of £lO as hereinbofore provided, the returning officor ■hall immediately publish the nameo of the several candidates in one or more newspapers circulating within the distriot. The poll shall be taken by ballot. It shall commence at 9 in the forenoon of tho day appointed, and ■hall close at 6 on the afternoon of the same day. Provisions follow for the ballot in the usual form. Ohuse 29—This guards against " double voting." Before giving any voting paper the returning officer shall " write upon the bottom of the left hand corner of the baok thereof his initials, and the number appearing on the roll against the name of the voter to whom he gives such paper, and after scouring the said corner by gum or otherwise he shall stamp thereon an official mark, and ■hall plaoe a mark against the name of suoh cleotor on the roll as evidence that he has proposed to vote." The provisions for the case of a double return are as follows :—" If at the general election any member shall be returned for two or more districts, he shall make his election for which he will serve within seven days after it shall appear that there is question upon his return for the distriot for which he 'elects to serve. If a petition is presented against his return for either distriot he shall, if his return for both distriots is valid, make his election within seven days after the petition has been disposed of." There are the following provisions for the transmission by telegraph of certain doonmenta. "It shall be lawful for the Governor, the Speaker of the House, Olerk of Writs and Deputy, and any member desiring to resign his seat, and any returning officor, to cause to be transmitted by electrio telegraph the contents of any writ, warrant, return, notice, authority or other communication which under the provisions of the Aot are required and authorised, whether requiring signature or not, subjeot to the provisions following:—The original document ■hall be delivered at a telegraph station, and in the own of any officers and persons other than the Governor or Speaker such delivery shall be made in the presence and under the inspection of a Justice of the Peace. The person to whom the oonte- ts of any suoh dooument shall be sent shall forthwith, in ths presence and under the supervision of a Justice of the Peace, cause to be sent baok by telegraph a copy of the message received by him, and in the event of any error appearing therein the process shall be repeated under like supervision until it shall appear that a true copy of such document has been reoeived by the person to whom it shall have been sent. When it shall appear that suoh true copy has been ao received the officor or person who delivered the original documents to the telegraph officer shall endorse upon tho original dooument a certificate that a true copy thereof has been sent under the provisions of this section to the person to whom the same shall have been so sent, and shall forthwith by telegraph inform such person that suoh certificate has been so endorsed ; and in caae of every officer or person other than the Governor or Speaker the certificate shall be endorsed in the presence of the Justice of the Peace who was prosent at the delivery of the original document. The person ss receiving suoh true copy shall, upon receiving information of suoh certificate, endorse upon tho copy of the original dooument received by him, a certificate that the same has been duly received under the provisions of this section, which certificate shall be signed by him and by tho Justice supervising the recoipt of suoh copy as provided. Every copy so endoraed and certified shall be aa valid to all intents and purposes as the original, whereof it purports to be a copy, would have been, and ■hall be adxnissable in evidence in any caso in which the original would have been so admissable; and any person by whom suoh copy shall have been so received or who shall bo thereby authorised, instructed or commanded, or who shall or may be lawfully charged with any duty in respect thereof, shall have and become liablo to the same rights and duties in respect thereof aa if he had received such original document duly signed and sealed. Every original dooument, a copy whereof ■hall have been transmitted under the preceding section of this Aot, shall be kept at the telegraph station at which it was delivered for the' purpose of such transmission, and shall after the expiration of two dayo from tho the date of the certificate under sub section 3 of the said section being endorsed upon it, be open within reasonable hours to tho inspection cf any person upon payment of a fee of one shilling. Wilful miadelivering of anch telegram is punishable by two years' hard labor, as also the signing of another person's name to a message without lawful authority or excuse, of which the burden of proof will lie with the person acouaed. For a false certificate under this Act, tho penalty is ono hundred pounds, for a certificate of sending and fourteen years' penal servitude for a certificate of receipt. No member for one distriot is capable of being elected to supply a vaoanoy in another district; and in the event of his being returned with his consent for one district whilst he is member for another, both districts shall thereupon become vacant. For a vacancy occurring during the aeaaion, the Speaker by warrant directs the issue of a writ during the reoess. The vaoanoy is to be gazetted ten days. Whon there is so Speaker the Government to act in lieu of the Speaker. All writs are returnable within forty days. The other provisions are as usunl for maintaining order, the appointment of officers, &c, &o. Mr Johnston has charge of the Bill, which i* to be pushed on next week on the Licensing Bill being got out of hand.