The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1874

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 208, 2 September 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1874

'yj , _; *••--> , ' ■ r - *^ — r . As the timU^approajcbjng for the -orgt election in Kelson of Councillors under the Municipal Corporations Act, it mayT be well that we should supply Some information with regard to the prescribed forms of procedure, .widely j different as they are from those to which we have been accustomed under the old regime. Before four o'clock ~cn the afternoon of Friday next ** any. person desirous of nominating a candidate" (we quote from the 83rd section of lhe Act) ** must cause to be delivered to the Returning Officer a nomination paper fnth'e form in the ninth schedule, or to tbe like effect, stating therein the Christian name and surname of such candidate; together with the other particulars required in and by the said schedule, and such nomination paper shall be signed by not less than three persons duly qualified to vote at such election, and also signed by the person named therein as a candidate in token of his assent to beiDg so named." - ; Clause 86 rendersJjj&le to a penalty i not exceeding £20 %/ery person who shall allow himself to be nominated while knowing himself to be incapable of acting as a Councillor; every person who shall sign such a paper knowing lhat the nominee ia incapable of acting ; and every person wbo, not being qualified to vote, shall Bign any nomination paper. In clause 88, we detect an error tbat should not have been permitted to occur in an Act of such importance. It is there sated that "if the number of candidates shall exceed the number ' of Councillors to be elected, then the Returning Officer shall forthwith cause voting papers io be printod io the form in the tenth schedule, or to the like - effect," &c. The schedule thus designated provides for the withdrawal of candidates, and it is evidently the eleventh end not the tenth schedule that is referred to. We are aware tbat many persons are under the impression that the voting is not secret, such an impression being conveyed by clause 99, which we quote J in full : "Every person entitled to vote at tbe election may vote for any number of candidates, not exceeding the number of Councillors ibeu to be chosen, by delivering io the Returning Officer a voting paper io the form of the eleventh schedule, or to the like effect, oontaining a description of his qualification to vote, aod also the name of the persons for whom he votes, such paper beiog previously signed with the name of the person voting, and the poll clerk sball thereupon openly record euch vote in a poll book to be kept for that purpose." We would, however, refer those who have not sufficiently studied the Acts— among whom we may include our contemporary, who has been quoting (rom clausee that have been repealed— to clause 22 of the . " Municipal Corporations Act Amendment Act, 1871," where it is laid down that " the sections of the •Municipal Corporations Act,' numbered from 88 to 104, both inclusive, shall, from and after the Ist December next, be repealed," &c, and clause 38 of the Amendment Act states that "Tbe Returning Officer shall forthwith, after the declaration of the poll,, cause ail the sealed parcels of ballot papers to be sealed up in a packet endorsed with a description of the contents thereof signed by the Returning Officer, and delivered to the Town Clerk of such borough, to be by the said Clerk safely aod secretly kept for six months after such delivery of the same, and such Clerk shall, after the expiration of such -period of six months, cause such ballot papers to be destroyed in the presence of three of the Councillors." We have thought it advisable to publish these sections at length, because it haß to our knowledge been frequently and publicly stated by those who ought to be authorities bn the subject, that the voting for Councillors was, in accord- ' ance with the terms of the "Municipal Corporations Act, 1867," to be opan^ and not on the ballot system.