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p.m. on all lawful days a fee of one shilling being
payable for every such inspection (Clauses 6-9).
The notice will be good for three months only
(Clause 14).

Declaration.
After the notice shall have been given, and be-
fore the granting of the Registrar's certificate, one
of the persons intending Marriage must person-
ally appear before the Registrar, and make his or
her solemn declaration "that he or she believes
that there is not any impediment of kindred or
alliance, or other lawful hindrance to the said
Marriage; and that one of the persons has, for the
space of three days immediately before the day of
making such declaration, had his or her place of
abode within the district wherein such Marriage
is to be solemnized: and where either of the per-
sons, not being a widow or widower, shall be un-
der the age of twenty-one years, such declaration
shall further state that the consent of the person
or persons whose consent to such Marriage is by
law required, has been obtained thereto, or that
there is no person resident in the Colony having
authority to give such consent, as the case may
be" (clause 12). Making a false declaration
will be deemed a misdemeanour (Clause 35).

Issue of Registrar's Certificate.
Immediately after such notice and declaration,
the Registrar may issue a Certificate authorising
the Marriage, *Provided that the persons intend-
ing Marriage are both of the full age of twenty-
one years, or, where the person under age is not
a widow or widower, that the consent of the pa-
rent or guardian of such minor shall appear upon
the notice, signed by such parent or guardian be-
fore the Registrar at his office, or before a Jus-
tice of the Peace, or a Solicitor of the Supreme
Court, and attested by such Registrar, Justice, or
Solicitor. The fee when a Certificate is immedi-
ately issued will be twenty shiilings.

In all other cases, the certificate shall not be
issued until after the expiration of fourteen days
after notice, when the fee will be five shillings
(Clause 10).

The Certificate, like the notice, will be void if
the Marriage be not solemnized within three
months after the notice shall have been given
(Clause 14).

Consents, Caveats, &c.
The father, if resident within the Colony, of
any person under twenty one years of age, such
person not being a widower or widow, or, if the
father be dead, the lawfully appointed guardian
or guardians, or one of them, or, in case the fa-
ther shall not be resident within the Colony, then
the mother if resident within the Colony, and if
there be no mother resident within the Colony,
then the guardian or guardians (if any) appointed
by the Supreme Court, or one of them, shall
have authority to give consent to the Marriage;
and such consent will be required for the Mar-
riage of a person so under age, unless there shall
be no person within the Colony authorised to give
such consent (Clause 16).

In case, however, the parent or guardian shall
be non compos mentis, or shall unreasonably or from
undue motives refuse or withhold consent to a
proper Marriage, the person desirous of marrying
may apply by petition to a Judge of the Supreme
Court in a summary way, and if the Marriage
should appear to the Judge to be proper, he may
make a judicial declaration that it is so, which
shall be as good and effectual as if the consent of
the parent or guardian had been given (Clause
17).

The issue of the Registrar's Certificate may be
forbidden by any person whose consent is required
as aforesaid (Clause 18); but any person who
shall forbid the issue of the Certificate, by falsely
representing himself or herself to be a person
whose consent is required by law, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanour.

Any person, having just and reasonable cause,
may, on payment of five shillings, enter a Caveat

with the Registrar against the issue of the Certifi-
cate. In case, however, of the Registrar refusing
to grant the Certificate, the person applying for it
shall have a right of appeal to a Judge of the
Supreme Court, who shall either confirm the re-
fusal, or direct the grant of the Certificate. If the
Judge shall declare the grounds on which the ca-
veat has been entered to be frivolous and vexa-
tious, and that they ought not to obstruct the
grant of the Certificate, the person who has entered
it shall be liable for the costs of the proceedings,
and also for damages to be recovered in an action
by the person against whose Marriage the caveat
was entered (Clauses 19, 20).

In case of the marriage of a minor without con-
sent, the offending party shall forfeit all property
acquired by such Marriage, and all settlements,
&c., founded on such Marriage, shall be void. But
the proceedings in such a case must be taken
within a year after the parent or guardian at
whose suit they are instituted shall have known
or discovered the solemnization of the Marriage.
Like forfeiture may be sued for by means of a
false Notice, Certificate, or Declaration made by
either party to such Marriage, (See Clauses 31-
34.)

So'emnization of Marriages.
The Registrar's Certificate or Certificates shall,
immediately before the solemnization of the Mar-
riage, be delivered by one of the persons about
to be married, to the Officiating Minister, or the
Registering Officer of the Society of Friends, or
of the Jewish Synagogue, or to the Registrar
present at the Marriage, as the case may be. The
Act does not interfere in any way with any reli-
gious service which may be preferred by the par-
ties, its specific provision being that the Marriage
may be solemnized between the persons described
in the Notice "according to such form and cere-
mony as they may see fit to adopt." But every
Marriage must be solemnized in the place stated
in the Notice, with open doors,—between the
hours of eight in the morning and four in the af-
ternoon,—in the presence of an Officiating Minis-
ter or other person duly authorised by the Act,
and in the presence of two or more witnesses.

The public will be duly informed of the names
of all Officiating Ministers within the meaning of
the Act, by a list to be published in the Govern-
ment Gazette, and notifications in the Gazette,
from time to time, of any names which may be
added to or withdrawn from the list. Persons
objecting to be married in the presence of an Offi-
ciating Minister, may be married at the office and
in the presence of a Registrar, on their compli-
ance with the law in all other particulars. The
fee in case of marriage at the Registrar's Office
will be three pounds (Clauses 21-24.

The Act makes full and stringent provision for
the registration of all Marriages in a prescribed
form, by the Officiating Ministers and Registrars.
An enumeration of these provisions does not how-
ever, come within the scope of the present noti-
cation, the object of which is simply (as before
stated) to make the public at large acquainted
with such prominent features of the law as
have a general application. More detailed in-
formation will of course be obtainable from the
Act itself, which has been published in the New
Zealand Government Gazette of this date,-
or on application to the Registrars of the several
districts.

The requirements of the Act do not extend to
Marriages between persons both of whom are of
the Native aboriginal race. But the Governor
may, from time to time, extend its operation to
such Marriages in such districts as he may by
Proclamation appoint. Meanwhile, persons of
the Native Aboriginal Race may, if they desire,
contract Marriage according to the provisions of
the Act.

JOHN B. BENNETT,
Registrar-General.

Registrar-General's Office,
Auckland, November 6th, 1855.