1034
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 50

Regulations under the Maori Representation Acts.

Native Office,
Wellington, 3rd August, 1887.

THE following regulations under the Maori Representation Acts, from the New Zealand Gazette No. 98, of the 12th November, 1881, are republished for general information.

By command.
T. W. LEWIS,
Under-Secretary.

(L.S.)
ARTHUR GORDON, Governor.

A PROCLAMATION.

IN exercise and pursuance of the powers and authorities enabling me in that behalf under “The Maori Representation Act, 1867,” “The Maori Representation Act Amendment and Continuance Act, 1872,” and “The Maori Representation Acts Continuance Act, 1876,” I, Arthur Hamilton Gordon, the Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, do hereby revoke the Proclamations bearing date respectively the twenty-second day of August, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, and the second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, and the regulations made thereunder; and I do further hereby proclaim that the following regulations making provision for the matters named in the ninth section of the firstly above-named Act shall be in force from the date of the gazetting hereof until the same be revoked:—

REGULATIONS.

1. There shall be one Returning Officer for each electoral district, to be appointed by the Governor, and the said Returning Officer shall have power to appoint, on the occasion of the election, such Deputy Returning Officers and Registration Officers as he may deem necessary; and if, owing to illness or other misadventure, such officer shall be unable personally to attend on such occasion, he shall be empowered to appoint a substitute to act in his stead.

2. Every Returning Officer, Deputy Returning Officer, and Registration Officer, and every substitute appointed hereunder, shall, before acting in his office, take an oath before a Justice of the Peace in the Form A at the end hereof, and such Justice of the Peace shall transmit a record of the same to the Colonial Secretary.

3. Polling-places shall be appointed in each electoral district by the Governor, and notice of the places appointed shall be published in the Kahiti and New Zealand Gazette for at least eight days previous to the day of nomination.

4. The writ shall be in the Form B at the end hereof, specifying the day and place of nomination, and the day on which the poll, if necessary, shall take place.

5. The above writ shall be forwarded to each Returning Officer, and a copy thereof shall be published in the Kahiti and New Zealand Gazette, and posted in such public places as shall be thought desirable by the Returning Officer.

6. On the day of nomination, so to be fixed as aforesaid, the Returning Officer shall preside at a meeting to be held at noon at the appointed place, and shall declare the purpose for which the meeting is held. It shall be competent to the Returning Officer to declare the meeting adjourned from day to day till the election is completed.

7. Every candidate shall be proposed by one and seconded by another elector, who shall each previously obtain from the Returning Officer a certificate that he is qualified to vote at the election; and, if no more than one candidate shall be so proposed and seconded, the Returning Officer shall declare such candidate duly elected, and will make his return accordingly.

8. In the event of there being more candidates than one proposed and seconded, the Returning Officer shall call for a show of hands, separately, in favour of each candidate, and after such show shall declare the person in whose favour the show of hands shall appear to have been largest; and if thereupon a poll be not demanded by one of the candidates, or by some elector, duly certified as such, on his behalf, the Returning Officer shall declare such person to be duly elected.

9. The name of the person so declared to be elected shall be indorsed on the writ by the Returning Officer as the person duly elected in pursuance thereof, and the writ shall be returned by him to the Governor forthwith, who shall transmit the same to the Clerk of the Writs, to be by him forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

10. If a poll be demanded as aforesaid, the Returning Officer shall then declare the day on which the same shall be taken, being the day fixed by the writ as aforesaid, and on that day the poll shall be open, at the places appointed as aforesaid, from nine a.m. to four p.m. of the same day, unless otherwise ordered by the Returning Officer.

11. If a poll be demanded, the Returning Officer shall immediately make arrangements for the issue, by the Registration Officer or officers at each polling-place, of voting-papers to electors, which shall be in the Form C at the end hereof, and shall be signed by the Registration Officer at the place indicated in the said form, thus forming the certificate of the right of the elector mentioned therein to vote at such election, and such papers may be issued at any time or times appointed by the Returning Officer until the close of the poll.

12. On the day of the poll the electors shall enter one by one the polling-booth, and shall each present his voting-paper, and, when requested to do so, shall state the name of the candidate for whom he intends to vote, and his own name. The Returning Officer or his deputy shall thereupon write the name of such candidate on the voting-paper, and sign the same, and pass it to a Maori, to be appointed by him, to be associated with him for this purpose, who shall place his initials or name on such voting-paper as witness.

13. The Returning Officer shall, as soon as convenient, immediately after the closing of the poll, ascertain the numbers polled for each candidate, and shall, on a day to be appointed by him, declare the person found to have the greatest number of votes to be duly elected, and shall indorse the writ accordingly, as provided in Regulation 9.

14. The Returning Officer or his deputy shall have power to appoint a sufficient number of officers to keep order, and to make and enforce such other regulations for insuring the orderly, effective, and impartial conduct of the election as may not be at variance with the hereinbefore mentioned Acts.

15. In any case not provided for in these regulations, the Returning Officer or his deputy or substitute shall, as far as possible, be guided by the law and practice which obtains in relation to election of members for the House of Representatives of other electoral districts than Maori districts.

16. Where by these regulations it is directed that any notice or copy of any instrument is to be published in the Kahiti, such publication shall be in the Maori language; and where by these regulations it is directed that any notice or copy of any instrument is to be published in the New Zealand Gazette, such publication shall be in the English language.

17. Where any accidental delay in the issue or return of any writ shall have arisen, or when any accidental or unavoidable impediment or omission shall have happened, the Governor may, by warrant under his hand, take all such measures as may be necessary for removing such impediment, or rectifying such misfeasance or omission, or may declare all or any of the proceedings at or for any election held under the said Acts valid as to and notwithstanding such impediment, misfeasance, or omission. Every warrant issued under this regulation shall be published in the Kahiti and New Zealand Gazette, and shall state specifically the nature of the impediment, misfeasance, or omission.

18. The term “electoral district,” where used herein, shall mean the Maori electoral districts as defined in the Schedule to “The Maori Representation Act, 1867,” or in any Proclamation for the time being in force issued under the eighth section of “The Maori Representation Act, 1867,” as amended by “The Maori Representation Act Amendment and Continuance Act, 1872.”

19. Wherever in these regulations it is provided that the Governor shall or may make any appointment, or do any act under any of these regulations, it is hereby declared that he shall have the power to make such appointment or to do such act from time to time and as often as occasion shall require, and similarly to vary or abolish any such appointment, and to modify, vary, or revoke any such act.

20. The provisions contained in these regulations relating to the issue of writs for the election of members for the electoral districts constituted under the first above-mentioned Acts, and to all matters incident to any such elections, and all other provisions of these regulations, shall, mutatis mutandis, be applied from time to time, as occasion may require, in every case of a vacancy occurring in the representation of any such electoral districts.

21. The provisions of sections fifty-two to fifty-seven, both inclusive, of “The Regulation of Elections Act, 1881,” shall be deemed to be implied herein as fully and effectively as if they were expressly set forth.

FORM A.

I [A.B.], Returning Officer for the Maori Electoral District [or one of the Deputy Returning Officers or Registration Officers or substitute], do promise and swear that I will faithfully perform the duties of Returning Officer [or Deputy Returning Officer or Registration Officer or substitute] to the best of my ability—So help me God.

FORM B.

VICTORIA, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Islands of New Zealand, &c., Queen, to , Esquire, Returning Officer for the Maori Electoral District: Greeting.

WHEREAS it is necessary that an election of a member of the House of Representatives of New Zealand shall