AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL CORPORATION CHARTER. PROCLAMATION.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 563, 6 September 1851, Page 1

AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL CORPORATION CHARTER. PROCLAMATION.

Victoria, by the Grace of Gop, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, &c, &c.j &c.

ANALYSIS. Preamble, reciting 9 and 10 Vic, c. 103, Royal Instructions, 23rd December, 1846, Ac, &c. &c. 1 . — The Bo7'ough and the Constitution of the Corporate Body thereof. 1. Boundaries of the Borough. 2. Borough to be divided into fourteen Wards ; names and description of Wards. 3. Barracks, &c, excepted from jurisdiction. 4. Capital of the Borough. 5. Inhabitants to be a Body Corporate. 6. Constitution of Corporation. 7. The Common Council. 8. Number of Common Councillors. 9. Who to Elect. 10. Number of Aldermen. 27. — Qualification of Electors, and mode of Election. 11. Qualification of Burgesses. 12. Disqualification. 13. Qualification for first Election. 14. Meeting of Justices to be called. 15. Justices to prepare Lists of Burgesses. 16. Lists to be published. 17. And afterwards to be conecled. 18 \A hen corrected, List to form Burgess 8011. 19. Election to be Annual. 20. Polling Pluce of certain Wards. 21. lieturning Officer. 22. Polling Place of certain Wards. 23. Returning Officer. 24. Polling Place of certain Wards. 25 Returning: Officer. 26. General Returning Officer. 27. Each Ward to id urn a single Member. 28. Wbo qualified to be Elecied. 29. To serve optional in certain cases. 30. Councillors how to be elected. j 3 1 . Questions that may be put to Voters. j 32. Time of Election. i 33. List of Votes to be made. 24. And 'o be published, 35. Persons having the greatest number of Votes to bo deemed duly elected. i 36. Voting Papers to be preserved. j 37. In case of Equality of Votes. | 38. Notice to be given to Persons elected. ; 39. Whrn deemed to decline to serve. j 40. Penalty for refusal. 41. Vacancies how supplied. 42. Re-election. TIL — The Mayor and Aldermen, their Election. '. 43. Mayor and Aldermen, by whom chosen. 44. Their Election when to take place. j 45. How elected. J 46. Oath to be taken. ] 47. By whom to be administered. 48. Resignation of Mayor, &c. ' 49. Major to be a Justice of the Peace. 50. Aldermen to be Justices of the Peace. 51. In cases of Bankruptcy. 52. Extraordinary Vacancies how supplied. j TV. — Powers of the Corporation. 53. Corporation to have like powers as any English j Corporation. 54. And to make Roads, &c. 55. And Docks, Piers, &c. I 56. And to make Bye-Laws. "57. On subjects enumerated. ' 58. Bye-Laws how to be made. 59. Not to be repugnant to Co'onial Ordinances. 60. Not to take effect until approved. 61. Nor until a month after publication. 62. Power to appoint a Town Clerk and Treasurer. V. — Meetings of the Council. 63. Business of Corporation to be done at Meetings thereof. 64. By whom to be convened. 65. Special Notice to be given. 66. All Meetings to be open to the Public. 67. Who to Preside. 68. Minutes to be kep'. 69. And to be open to Inspection. VI. — Miscellaneous Provisions. 70. Treasurer to publish Balance Sheet. 7l! Corporation not to be dissolved in certain cases. 72. Interpretation. 73. Operation. Schedule A. Boundaries of Borough. Schedule B. Boundaries of Wards. Map or Plan.

Whereas, by an Act of the Imperial Parliament, made and enacted in the Parliament holden inVthe 9th and lOth years of the reign of Her '^ijesty Queen Victoria, intituled, " An Act to make further provision for the Government of tlie New Zealand Islands," it is amongst other things enacted, That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, in and by any Letters Patent thereafter to be issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from time to time to constitute and establish within any district or districts of the Is-

lands of New Zealand, one or more Municipal Corporation or Corporations, and to grant to any such Corporation all or any of the powers in the said recited Act mentioned : And it is thereby further enacted, that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by any such Letters Patent as aforesaid, to make and prescribe all such Rules as to Her Majesty shall seem fit for determining the extent and boundaries of the district to be comprised within any such Municipal Corporation as aforesaid; and for regulating the choice and election of the various officers of any such corporations, and of the members of the governing bodies thereof ; and for ascertaining the qualifications of the members of any such Municipal Corporations ; and for prescribing the oaths to be taken, or the affirmations to be made by the members thereof: And whereas it is further provided by the said recited Act, that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to execute any of the powers thereby vested in Her Majesty, not by means of any such Letters Patent as aforesaid, but by instructions under the Royal Signet and Sign Manual, and accompanying or referred to in such Letters Patent ; and that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by any such Letters Patent or Instructions, to delegate to the Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand, or to the respective Governors of the respective Provinces thereof, the exercise of such of the powers aforesaid, as to Her Majesty may seem meet ; and to prescribe the manner and form in which, and the conditions subject to which such delegated authority shall so be exercised : And whereas, in pursuance of the said recited Act, Her Majesty by certain Letters Patent, bearing date the 23rd day of December, 1846, did exercise certain of the powers in Her Majesty by the said Act vested; and in further pursuance of the said Act, by certain " Instructions" under ihe Royal Signet and Sign Manual referred to and accompanying the said Letters Patent, Her Majesty did make certain provisions touching the establishment of such Corporations as aforesaid, as hereinafter set forth, and thus (*) distinguished ; and did delegate to the Governorin- Chief of New Zealand the power, by Proclamations to be issued by him in the name and on the behalf of Her Majesty, to define the metes and bounds of every Municipal District or Borough to be established under the authority aforesaid ; to constitute the Inhabitants of such Borough a Body Corporate ; to prescribe the manner and form in which the Burgess Roll of such Borough shall be made; to prescribe the number of Common Councillors for such Borough, and the manner, form, time, and place of their election ; to make provision for the filling of vacancies ; rules for the appointment and payment of officers ; for the holding of meetings by the Common Council ; and, lastly, the power of making all other Rules not being repugnant to the said recited Act, which it may seem to such Governor-in-Chief necessary to make for can y ing into effect the purposes of the said " Instructions," and to modify, or alter, or suspend the operation of any of the provisions in the said "Instructions" contained, which by reason of any local or temporary causes it may to such Governor-in-Chief appear either impracticable or inexpedient to carry into effect, and to substitute any other provisions better adapted to promote the weltare of the Inhabitants of any such Borough as aforesaid. And whereas various " Institutions" and Public Works have been established in the Town of Auckland and the neighbourhood thereof, for the use and benefit of the Inhabitants, and portions of the Demesne lands of the Crown have in certain cases been set apart and vested in Trustees, as an endowment for or towards the support and maintenance thereof: And whereas the Inhabitants themselves are best qualified, as well by their more intimate knowledge of local affairs, as by their more direct interest theiein, to make provisions for the efficient management of such Institutions, Works, and Endowments as aforesaid : And whereas to that end, and with a view to the good order, health, and convenience of the people, it is expedient that the Inhabitants of the said District be constituted a Body Corporate, with the privileges, power, and authority hereinafter mentioned ; Now therefore, in exercise of the power so given and delegated as aforesaid, and in exercise of all other powers and authorities to Us in that behalf in anywise appertaining : We do hereby Proclaim and Declare as follows -.—. —

[The clauses marked thus (*) form part of the provisions in the Royal Instructions above lcfcrred Io.J

I. — THE BOROUGH AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CORPORATE BODY THEREOF. 1. So much of the Province of New Ulster as lies between the Harbours of Waitemata and Manukau, and which is particularly defined and described in the Schedule marked A. hereunto annexed, shall constitute a Municipal District, and shall be called the " Borough of Auckland." 2. The said Borough, for the purpose of the election of the governing body thereof, shall be divided into Fourteen Wards, to be named as follows ; the Boundaries of the said Wards being particularly set forth aud described in the Schedule marked 8., and delineated on the Map or Plan respectively hereunto annexed: — The Town of Auckland shall be divided into three Wards, to be called respectively — 1 . East Ward. 2. Middle Ward. 3. West Ward. The Suburbs of the Town of Auckland shall also be divided into three Wards, to be called respectively — 4. Suburban East. 5. Suburban South. 6. Suburban West. Each of the Pensioner Settlements, with the land adjacent thereto, shall be and constitute a Ward, to be respectively called — 7. Onehunga Ward. 8. Pan mure Ward. 9. Otahuhu Ward. 10. Howick Ward. The Epsom District, and the country adjacent thereto, shall be divided into two Wards, to be called respectively — 11. Kpsom East Ward. 12. Epsom West Ward. So much of the Hundred of Panmure as lies to the northward of the road leading to Point England, shall form a Ward, and shall be called — 13. Tamaki West Ward. And so much of the said Borough of Auckland as lies to the Eastward of the Tamaki (exclusive of Howick Ward) shall form a Ward, and shall be called — 14. Tamaki East Ward. 3. Provided always, That no Dockyard, Victualling Establishment, Arsenal, or Barracks belonging to Her Majesty, which shall be situated within the limits of the said Borough, shall be deemed to be part of such Borough for any of the purposes herein, or in the said recited Act or " Instructions," mentioned: And provided also, that no land not comprised within a grant from the Crown shall be liable to be taxed in aid of the Funds of the said Borough by the Common Council thereof. 4. The Town of Auckland shall be the Capital of the said Borough. 5. The inhabitants of the said Borough shall be a Body Corporate in name and in deed, with perpetual succession and a Common Seal, and shall bear the style and title of " The Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Auckland." 6. *Such Corporation shall consist of a Mayor, of a Court of Aldermen, and of a Common Council, for the government thereof, and of the Burgesses possessing the Elective Franchise therein. 7. *The Common Council of the said Borough shall consist of the Mayor, the Aldermen, and the Common Councillors thereof for the time being. 8. *For the said Borough there shall be Fourteen Common Councillors, to be elected in manner hereinafter provided. 9. *The Burgesses of the said Borough shall annually elect the Common Councillors thereof, to serve for the year then next ensuing, and the Common Councillors of such Borough, when so elected, shall annually choose from their own number the Aldermen and the Mayor thereof, to seive for the year next ensuing such choice. 10. The number of persons to be chosen Aldermen, as aforesaid, shall be four. II. — QUALIFICATION OF ELECTORS, AND THE MODE OF ELECTION. 11. *Subject to the exceptions afterwards mentioned, every male person who, on the first of January in each successive year, shall be in the occupation of any tenement within the said Borough, of which he shall have been the occupier for six months at the least next immediately preceding that day, shall, during the next ensuing twelve calendar months, be a Burgess of the said Borough.

12. *But this Franchise shall not belong to" or be vested in, any Alien, nor in any person of unsound mind, nor in any person who may at any time theretofore have been convicted of any Felony, or other infamous crime, nor in any person who has, during the last preceding six months, been maintained wholly or in part by Public Alms, nor in any person who may be in arrear for more than six months in respect of any rates or assessments lawfully payable I by him to the funds of the said Borough in respect of any such tenement as aforesaid, or otherwise. 13. Provided always, that, except as last aforesaid, every male person, who, on the first day of August, 1851, shall be in the occupation of any tenement within the said Borough, shall be deemed and taken to be a Burgess of the said Borough, 14. The Resident Magistrate for the time being acting for the Town of Auckland, or some other fit person to be appointed in that behalf by the Governor, shall in the month of October next, and in the month of July in every succeeding year, call a special meeting of the Justices of the Peace residing within the said Borough, for the purpose of forming a list of the Burgesses thereof qualified as hereinbefore mentioned. 15. The Justices at such meeting (any two being a quorum) shall prepare a list of the persons who may be qualified to be Burgesses as hereinbefore provided, and shall set forth the Christian and Surname of each at full length, together with his place of abode, calling, or business, and arrange the names in alphabetical order, and class them for the several Wards for which they may be respectively entitled to vote. 16. The Resident Magistrate, or such other person as aforesaid, shall forthwith cause a copy of such Ward List to be posted in some conspicuous place in the Ward to which the said List shall relate ; and shall subjoin thereto a Notice, that all claims to be added to such List, and all objections thereto, will be heard and determined at an adjourned meeting of the said Justices, open to the public, and to be held on a day to be specified in such notice, not being more than ten days after the date thereof. 17. The said Justices shall have power, at such meeting so to be open to the public as aforesaid, after hearing such objections, to strike out of the said List the names of all persons who may be found by them not to be so qualified as aforesaid ; and also to add to the said List the names of such persons as may have been accidentally or improperly omitted. 18. The Lists so corrected as aforesaid shall form the " Burgess Roll" of the said Borough, and the persons so enrolled thereon shall be deemed and taken to be the Burgesses of the Borough until the completion of the Burgess Roll for the year then next ensuing ; and every person whose name shall appear upon such. Burgess Roll shall be deemed and taken to be duly qualified to vote for the Ward in respect of which his name shall appear upon such Roll, without any further or other inquiry, revision, or scrutiny whatever. 19. The Annual Election of Common Councillors for the said Borough shall take place upon the eighteenth day of the month of November in every year, except such day shall be on a Sunday, in which case the election shall take place on the Monday following ; and the first of such Elections shall take place on the eighteenth day of the month of November next. 20. The Polling Place for the following Wards, viz. . — 1. EastWard, 2. Middle Ward, 3. West Ward, 4. Suburban East, 5. Suburban South, 6. Suburban West, 11. Epsom East Ward, 12. Epsom West Waid, 13. Tamaki West Ward, shall be in some convenient place in the Town of Auckland to be specified by the Returning Officer. 21. The Returning Officer for the said last mentioned Wards shall be the Resident Magistrate for the time being acting for the Town of Auckland, or such other person as the Governor may fiom time to time appoint in that behalf. 22. The Polling Place for the followiug Wards, viz. : —

7. Onehunga Ward, 8. Panraure Waid, 9. Otabubu Ward, shall be some convenient place in the Settlement of Onehunga, to be determined by the Returning Officer. 23. The Returning Officer for such last mentioned Waids shall be the Resident Magistrate for the time being acting for the Settlement of Onehunga, or such other persou as the Governor shall from time to time appoint in that behalf. 24. The Polling Place for the following Wards, viz. : — 10. Howick Ward, 14. Tamaki East Ward, shall be some convenient place in the Settlement of Howick to he determined by the Returning Officer. 25. The Returning Officer for such last mentioned Waids shall be the Resident MagisUate.for the time being acting for the Settlement of Howick, or such other person as the Governor shall from time to time appoint ia that behalf. 26. The General Returning Officer for the Borough shall be such fast mentioned Resident Magistrate, or other person, as aforesaid. 27. The Electors of each of the said Wards into which the said Borough shall be divided, shall return one Member to serve in the Common Council thereof. 28. The person so to be elected as afotesaid, for each of such Wards, shall he an enrolled Burgess of, and shall have his usual place of abode in the Ward for which he shall be elected. 29. Provided always, that no Member ot the General or Provincial Legislature, no Officer in Her Majesty's Army or Navy, or Marine Forces on full pay, and no Judge, Clergyman, Priest, or regular Minister of Religion, shall be liable to serve the office of Common Councillor without his own concent. 30. The Election of Common Councillors shall be conducted in manner following: Every Burgess so enrolled as aforesaid may vote for one Member to be chosen for the Ward in respect of which he shall be entitled to vote, by delivering on the day of election to the " Returning Officer" a Voting Paper containing the Christian and Surname of the person for whom he votes, together with his place of abode and description, and signed with the name of the Burgess so voting, and setting forth his own place of abode and description. 31. No enquiry shall be permitted at any snch Election as to the right of any person to -vote, except only as follows j that is to saythat the Returning Officer shall, if required by any two Burgesses, put to any voter at the time of his delivering in his Voting Paper, and not afterwards, the following questions, and no athers :—: — . ; 1. Are you the Person whose name is I signed as [A. B.] to the Voting Paper i now delivered in by you 1 2. Are you the Person whose name appears " as [A. B.] on the Burgess Roll of Ward, now in force for the said Ward % 3. Have you already voted at the present election ? And no Person required to answer any of the said questions shall be permitted to vote until he shall have answered the first two affirmatively, and the last negatively. 32. The voting shall commence at nine of the clock in the forenoon, and shall finally close at four of the clock in the afternoon of the same day. 33. At the close of the Election the Returning Officer shall ascertain the number of votes given for every person whose name shall appear upon the Voting Papers, and shall make out a list of such persons, shewing the number of votes given for each, and distinguishing the Wards for which such votes shall have been given. 34. The Returning Officer shall immediately publish such list as aforesaid, and forthwith forward a copy thereof to the General Returning Officer, accompanied by a certificate under his hand that the said return is correct and true. 35. The General Returning Officer shall, as soon as conveniently may be, publish copies of the said lists, and the several persons who shall have the greatest number of votes for each such Waid shall be deemed to be duly elected for the same accordingly, 36. Such Voting Papers as aforesaid shall be kept ioi the space of six calendar months after the election by the respective Returning Officers, who shall permit any Burgess to inspect the same upon payment of one shilling. 37. In case of an equality of votes at any such election the General Returning Officer shall determine by lot the priority between the persons for whom an equal number of votes shall have been given. 38. The General Returning Officer shall forthwith give notice, in writing, to the several persons elected of such their election, and shall require them severally within one week to declare whether they accept or decline the office to which they may have been respectively elected.

39. If any person so elected shall, after re- : ceiptof such notice, fail to comply with such requirement, he shall be held to have declined such office. 40. *Any person duly qualified (except as hereinbefore provided) who shall be elected to fill any such Corporate office shall, in the event of his refusal, or omission to discharge the duties thereof, be liable to the same fines or penalties to which any person is liable in England for the like offence, which fines and pen - a'tics shall be recovered and applied as nearly as may be in the same manner in which the like fines and penalties are recovered and applied in England. 41. In case any person shall decline Ine office to which he shall have been so elected, or in case any extraordinary vacancy shall occur in the Council, every such vacancy shall be filled up by an election to be conducted in manner hereinbefore provided within ten clear days after such vacancy shall occur ; and every person so elected shall hold office until the time when the person in the room of whom he was chosen would regularly have gone out of office, and shall then go out of office. 42. Every person who shall have been elected to any Corporate Office shall be capaole of being re-elected upon the expiration of his term of oißce. 111.— THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, THEIR ELECTION, &C. 43. *The Common Councillors of the said Borough, when so elected, shall annually choose from their own number the Aldermen and the Mayor thereof, to serve for the year nex t ensuing such choice. 44. The Election of such Mayor and Aldermen shall take place within one week after the annual election of Common Councillors. 45 The said Mayor and Aldermen shall be elected by a majority of votes ; and in case of an equality of votes, the priority between the Common Councillors for whom an equal number of votes have been given, shall be determined by lot. 46. * Every Mayor, Alderman, and Common Councillor shall, before entering on the discharge of such his trust or office, take and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance, and none 47. Until otherwise ordered, the said Oath shall be administered by a Judge of the Supreme Court, or by such person as the Go-vernor-in-Chief shall for that purpose appoint. 48. It shall be lawful for any such Mayor, Alderman, or Common Councillor, to resign his office at any time, with the consent of the Common Council : Provided that the person so desiring to resign shall give to the Common Council not less than three week's notice of his attention so to do. 49. *The Mayor of the said Borough for the time being shall, in virtue of such his office, and without any further appointment, be a Justice of the Peace of and for the Borough during a period of two years next following on his election. < 50. *Every Alderman of the said Borough, in virtue of such his office, and without any further appointment, shall be a Justice of the Peace of and for the Borough, so long as he shall continue in the discharge of such his office of Alderman. 51. If any such Mayor, Alderman, or Common Councillor, shall be declared Bankrupt, or shall apply to take the benefit of any Act or Ordinance for the relief of persons imprisoned for Debt, or shall compound by deed with his Creditors, or shall be absent from the said Borough for six calendar months at one and the same time, such Mayor, Alderman, or Common Councillor, shall thereupon cease to be Member of the Council. 52. In case of an extraordinary vacancy in the office of Mayor or Alderman, the Common Council shall, within ten days after such vacancy, meet for the purpose of choosing a successor for the remainder of the year, by an election to be conducted in manner hereinbefore mentioned ; and the person so to he elected shall hold office until the time when the person in the room of whom he shall have been chosen would regularly have gone out of office, and he shall then himself go out of office.

IV, POWERS OF THE CORPORATION". 53. *The said Corporation shall be capable in law by the Common Council thereof, to do and to suffer all such Acts as can be lawfully done or suffered by any Municipal Corporation in England by the Common Council thereof. 54. The said Council shall have power to make and keep in repair all Roads, Streets, Squares, Causeways, and Bridges, within the limits of the said Borough; to excavate, construct, and maintain Wells, Waterworks, Conduits, Sewers, and other like works, and to provide for the prevention of Fires, the prevention and abatement of Nuisances, the regulation of Markets, and the construction of Market Places, the watching, paving, lighting, and cleansing of the said Borough, and for all such purposes as they may deem necessary for the good order, health, and convenience, of the inhabitants of the said Borough,

55. It shall also be lawful for sucli Council to construct and maintain such Docks, Basins, Locks, Wharves, Quays, Piers, and Landing Places, as they may deem necessary for facilitating and encouraging the Trade and Commerce of the said Borough. 56. *The said Common Council shall have power to make and ordain Bye Laws for the good order and convenience of the Borough. j 57. *Such Bye Laws may so be made for any of the several objects following, that is to say-— , I.— For the making or the maintenance of any Roads, or other internal communications from any one part of the Borough to any other part thereof. 2. — For the erection and repair of Public Buildings for any Corporate purposes. 3._ For the purchase or sale of any property for any Corporate purposes. 4, — For the establishment and maintenance of a Police Force within such Borough, and for the proper government and remuneration of any such Police Force. s._For the holding of Quarter Sessions or Petty Hessions of the Peace, of and for such Borough, by the Justices of the Peace thereof. 6.— For the Suppression of all Nuisances within such Borough prejudicial to the health or comfort of the Inhabitants thereof. 7,_For Draining, Paving, Lighting, Watching, "Repairing, Cleansing, and Maintaining any Streets, Roads, and other Thoroughfares within such Borough. B.— For Establishing and Maintaining Schools, ' Hospitals, and other Eleemosynary Institutions, within such Borough. g.—For Maintaining and Regulating Market Places, and for imposing Market Tolls and Dues, in cases where Markets shall be duly Proclaimed by or on behalf of Her Majesty. 10.— For the Imposition, Collecting, Accounting for, and Auditing, of all such Rates and Assessments on Property, Real or Personal, or both, within such Borough, or upon the owners and occupiers of any such Property. 11. — For securing the application of the proceeds of all such Tolls, Rates, and Assessments, to the discharge of all expenses of and incident to the execution of all or any of the objects aforesaid. 12. — For determining the Amount of the Salaries or other remunerations to be assigned to any officers of such Borough. 13.— For imposing Fines for the breach or neglect of any such Bye Laws as aforesaid. 58. *All Bye Laws of such Borough shall be made, and all other Corporate Acts of such Corporation, shall be done by the Common Council thereof, by the authority and in the presence of whom, and not otherwise, the Common Seal of the said Borough shall be attached to any such acts. 59. *If any such Bye Law shall be repugnant to any Law or Ordinance of the General Legislature of New Zealand, or of the Legislature of the Province, such Bye Law shall be null and void. 60. *No such Bye Law shall take effect within the said Borough, or shall have the force and effect of law therein, unless the same shall have been approved by the Governor -m- j Chief of New Zealand. ■ 61. No such Bye Law shall come into operation until it shall have received the assent of the Governor, and until the expiration of one calendar month after a copy thereof, accompanied by the signification of such assent shall have been published in the Gnvernment Gazelle. 62. It shall be lawful for the said Council from time to time to appoint fit persons (not being Members of the Council) to be Town Clerk and Treasurer, who shall hold their respective offices during pleasure, and to pay such officers such salaries to be sanctioned by the Governor, as the said Council shall deem reasonable.

V. — MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL. 63. All Acts whatsoever authorised or required to be done by the Common Council of the said Borough, and all questions that may come before such Council shall be done and decided by the majority of the Members of the Council who shall be present at any Meeting thereof, the whole number present at any such meeting not being less than one-half of the 1 whole Council. 64. The Mayor shall have power to call a meeting of the said Council as often as he shall think proper. 65. The Mayor shall cause a Notice of the time and place of every such intended Meeting, specifying the business proposed to be transacted thereat, and signed by him, to be left at the usual place of abode of every Member of the Council, which Notice shall be given three clear days at least before such Meeting, unless it shall appear to the Mayor that such delay in the holding of any such Meeting would be attended with- imminent danger to the welfaie of the Borough,

66. Every Meeting of the Council shall be open to the Public. i 67. *At every meeting of the Council the t Mayor, or in his absence, some Alderman selected for that purose by the Meeting shall preside, and such presiding Officer, shall have both an original and a casting vote. 68. Minutes of the proceedings of every Meeting shall be entered in a Book to be kept for "that purpose, and shall be signed by the person presiding at such Meeting. 69. Every Burgess shall be at liberty to inspect and make extracts from the book so to be kept at all reasonable times upon payment of a fee of one shilling for each inspection. VI. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 70. The Treasurer of the said Borough shall in books, to be kept by him for that purpose, enter true accounts of all sums of mone^fcby him received and paid, and of the several "JPters in respect whereof such sums shall have been received and paid, and all such accounts with all vouchers and papers relating thereto, together with a full abstract or Balance Sheet thereof, shall yearly, at such time as the Council may appoint be submitted by such Treasurer to Auditors to be appointed in that behalf, and to such members of the Council as the Mayor shall name for the purpose of examining «nd auditing the same. And such abstract or Balance Sheet if found correct, shall be signed by the Auditors, and shall be forthwith published by the Treasurer in one of the newspapers of the Borough. 71. In case no election shall be made of any such Mayor, Alderman, or Common Councillor upon the day, or within the time hereby, or by the said recited Instructions appointed for any such election, or such election being made shall afterwards become void, whether such omission or avoidance shall happen through the default of the officer or Officers who ought to preside at such election or by any accident or other means whatsoever, the said Corporation shall not thereby be deemed or taken to be dissolved or disabled from electing such Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor for the future, but in any case where no such election shall be made as aforesaid, the election of any such Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor may be held or proceeded with upon the day next after the day on which such election ought to have been made, unless such day shall happen to be a Sunday, and then upon the Monday following. 72. For the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Proclamation the term Governor-in-Chief shall be taken to include the Governor and the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. 73. This Proclamation shall take effect from the day of the date hereof. In testimony whereof, We have caused this Our Proclamation to be sealed with the Public Seal of Our Islands of New Zealand. Witness Our trusty and well-beloved Sir George Grey, X.C.8., Our Governor-inChief in and over Our said Islands of New Zealand at Government-House, at Wellington, in the Province of New Munster,in the Islands aforesaid, this twenty-ninth day of July in the fifteenth year of Our Reign, and in the year of Our Lord on thousand eight hundred j and fifty-one. G. Grey, Governor -in-Chief. "By His Excellency's Command, Andrew Sinclair, Colonial Secretary. God Save the Queen.