Numb. 73. 1105

SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
OF
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1891.
Published by Authority.

WELLINGTON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1891.

Notice by Returning Officer for the Electoral District of City of Christchurch validated.

ONSLLOW, Governor.
ORDER IN COUNCIL.
At the Government Buildings, at Wellington, this seventh day of October, 1891.

Present:
THE HONOURABLE THE COLONIAL SECRETARY PRESIDING IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS on the sixteenth day of September last a writ was duly issued by the Clerk of the Writs for the election of a member of the House of Representatives for the Electoral District of the City of Christchurch: And whereas on or about the eighteenth day of September last past, and on divers dates subsequent thereto, George Leslie Lee, Esquire, the Returning Officer for the said electoral district (hereinafter referred to as “the Returning Officer”), published a notice in a newspaper called The Press, published in the City of Christchurch, and also in some other newspaper or newspapers published in the said city, a copy of which notice is set forth in the Schedule hereto: And whereas by the terms of such notice the Returning Officer, inter alia, fixed the date for the delivery to him of nomination-papers as prescribed by section five of “The Electoral Acts Amendment Act, 1890,” to be “on or before Friday, 2nd October, 1891;” and by the said notice the poll for the said election was to be taken “on the 9th day of October, 1891:” And whereas, in so fixing the second day of October as a day on which nomination-papers could be delivered to him in and by such notice, the Returning Officer did not comply with the provisions of “The Electoral Acts Amendment Act, 1890,” which requires that such nomination-papers shall be given or transmitted to the Returning Officer so as to reach him not less than seven days before the day appointed for the poll: And whereas on the first day of October instant, one Eden George, of the City of Christchurch, aforesaid, Photographer, was nominated as a candidate for the said election, and on the second day of October instant Ebenezer Sandford, of the same place, Printer, and John Tippett Smith, of the same place, Stationer, were also nominated as candidates for the said election, and all the said nominations have been received and accepted by the Returning Officer, and the proceedings in and about the said election are now in progress: And whereas doubts have arisen whether, by reason of the premises, the nominations of all or some of the said candidates are not invalid, and such doubts have so arisen by reason of the action of the Returning Officer in giving the said notice in the terms hereinbefore mentioned:

And whereas by the seventy-fourth section of “The Regulation of Elections Act, 1881,” it is enacted that when any accidental or unavoidable impediment, misfeasance, or omission happens, the Governor in Council may take all such measures as may be necessary for removing or rectifying the same, or may declare any or all of the proceedings at or for any election valid, notwithstanding such impediment, misfeasance, or omission: And whereas it has been made to appear that the misfeasance or omission of the Returning Officer in giving such notice in the terms hereinbefore mentioned was accidental, and it is expedient that all the proceedings at or for the said election, and incident to or consequent on the said notice, should be rendered valid, as hereinafter mentioned:

Now, therefore, His Excellency the Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, in pursuance and exercise of the power and authority vested in him by the seventy-fourth section of “The Regulation of Elections Act, 1881,” and by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said colony, doth hereby declare that the said notice so published by the Returning Officer as aforesaid shall be and be deemed to have been valid, notwithstanding that it did not comply with the provisions of “The Electoral Acts Amendment Act, 1890,” as hereinbefore mentioned, and doth also declare that all the nominations of all the candidates at or for the said election shall be and be deemed to have been valid, and in particular that the nominations of the said Ebenezer Sandford and John Tippett Smith shall be and be deemed to have been valid, notwithstanding that the same or either of them reached the Returning Officer less than seven days before the day appointed for the poll at the said election, and also doth declare that the delivery to and receipt by the Returning Officer of all the nomination-papers of all the said candidates shall be and be deemed to have been valid, and doth also declare that all proceedings heretofore taken at or for the said election shall be valid, so far as the same may be affected by the said notice and the said nominations or any of them, and also that all proceedings incidental to or