944

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 21

a printed voting-paper containing in alphabetical order of surnames a list of all the duly nominated candidates.

7. The voting-paper shall be in the form or to the effect of the following :—

Consecutive Number :

VOTING-PAPER TO BE USED AT THE ELECTION TO BE HELD ON THE 10TH MAY, 1927, OF MEMBERS OF THE ACADEMIC BOARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ZEALAND.

Instructions.

Mark with the figures 1, 2, 3, &c., the order of your preference for the candidates.

Do not sign this paper.

The voting-paper must be enclosed in an envelope, bearing on the outside the word “Voting-paper” and addressed “The Returning Officer, University of New Zealand, Dominion Farmers’ Institute Buildings, Featherston Street, Wellington,” and must be either delivered to the Returning Officer or posted to him. If delivered, it must reach him before 5 o’clock on the afternoon of 10th May, 1927 ; if posted, it must be posted not later than that day and bear the postmark of that or an earlier day, and it must reach the Returning Officer not later than 5 o’clock on the afternoon of 16th May, 1927.

8. The voting-papers as received by the Returning Officer shall be placed in a ballot-box, which shall be kept locked.

9. (1) A voting-paper shall be informal in any of the following cases :—
   (a) If the elector votes more than once :
   (b) If in any way the paper fails to indicate clearly the order of preference of the candidates :
   (c) If, being posted, it does not reach him by 5 o’clock p.m. on the 16th May, 1927, or if from the postmark on the envelope or otherwise the Returning Officer is satisfied that it was not posted until after the day of the election.

(2) No voting-paper shall be informal merely because the voter omits to mark more than one preference.

10. At 10 o’clock a.m. of the seventh day after the closing of the poll the voting-papers shall be taken from the ballot-box by the Returning Officer and counted in accordance with the rules set out in the Third Schedule of the Legislative Council Act, 1914.

11. Each candidate may, by writing under his hand, appoint one scrutineer, who may be present at the examination of the voting-papers and the counting of the votes by the Returning Officer.

12. The Returning Officer shall, immediately after counting the votes, seal up all voting-papers, and transmit the whole to the Clerk of the Magistrate’s Court, at Wellington, who shall keep the same for six months thereafter, and shall not open or permit to be opened such packet, except on the order of some Court of competent jurisdiction, and shall at the end of six months effectually destroy the same.

13. Forthwith after the completion of the election the Returning Officer shall, by notice exhibited on the outside of the office of the University of New Zealand, notify the names of the persons elected and shall also, by writing signed by him, notify the result of the election to the Minister of Education.

14. The Returning Officer and every scrutineer shall be required faithfully and impartially to perform the duties of their offices, and shall not directly or indirectly make known the state of the poll or give or pretend to give any information by which the state of the poll may be known before the final declaration thereof by the Returning Officer, or make known for which candidate any voter has voted, or otherwise communicate to any person any information likely to defeat the secrecy of the ballot.

15. If any dispute or question arises touching the regularity of the election, such dispute or question shall be determined by a Stipendiary Magistrate in manner provided by sections 58 to 67 of the Local Elections and Polls Act, 1925, all the provisions of which shall, with the necessary modifications, apply.

F. D. THOMSON,
Clerk of the Executive Council.