Superintendent’s Office,
Dunedin, 2nd December 1854.

HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT directs it to be notified that he has received and paid over to the Sub-Treasurer, the under-mentioned sums collected in aid of the Widows and Orphans of the Soldiers and Sailors who may be killed during the present war in Europe, viz.:—

Presbyterian Church of Otago—

• Per Rev. Thos. Burns, Dunedin, £11 0 4
• Per Rev. Wm. Bannerman, Clutha and Tokomairiro, £6 0 0
• Per Rev. Wm. Will., East Taieri, £3 17s., West Taieri 14s., £4 11 0
  £21 11 4

Episcopalian Church—

• Per Rev. J. A. Fenton, Dunedin, 10 19 6

Total, £32 10 10

By His Honor’s command,
JOHN LOGAN,
Clerk to Superintendent.

NEW MARRIAGE ACT.

THE attention of the Public is called to an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand, intitled the “Marriage Act, 1854,” which among other things provides—

“6. In every case of marriage intended to be solemnized in the Colony of New Zealand, one of the persons intending Marriage shall, under his or her hand, give notice in the form in the schedule A, to this Act annexed, to the Registrar of the District within which one of the persons shall have dwelt for not less than three days, and shall therein truly state the age, name and surname, and the calling or profession, and condition of each of the persons intending marriage, the dwelling place of each of them, and the time that each of them has dwelt in such district, and the church, building, or place, in which such marriage is intended to be solemnized. Provided always that if the persons intending marriage dwell in the districts of different Registrars, the like notice shall be given to the Registrar of each district.

“7. The Registrar shall keep all such notices with the records of his office, and shall also, immediately on receiving any such notice, enter a true copy thereof fairly into a book to be called the ‘Marriage Notice Book.’ Provided always that before the copy of any such notice shall be so entered in the Notice Book, the Registrar shall require the person giving such notice to make a solemn declaration to the truth of the several particulars set forth in such notice.

“8. There shall be paid to the Registrar, by the person leaving the said notice of Marriage with the Registrar, a fee of two shillings and sixpence.

“9. Every such ‘Marriage Notice Book’ shall be open to all persons desiring to inspect the same, between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon of every day, except Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, and the Queen’s Birth-day; and for every such inspection there shall be paid to the Registrar a fee of one shilling.

“10. It shall be lawful for the Registrar to whom such notice shall have been given as aforesaid, immediately upon receipt of such notice as aforesaid, to issue a certificate in the form Schedule B to this Act annexed, in the cases following, that is to say: first, when it shall appear from the notice and solemn declaration herein mentioned that both the persons intending marriage are of full age, or if a person be under age, that such person is a widow or widower. Secondly, where the person being under age, and not a widow or widower, the consent in writing of the parent or guardian as herein required to the marriage of such person shall appear upon the notice, which consent shall be signed by the parent or guardian either before the Registrar at his office, or before a Justice of the Peace, or a Solicitor of the Supreme Court; and be attested by such Registrar, Justice, or Solicitor, and for every such certificate the Registrar shall be entitled to a fee of twenty shillings. In all other cases the Registrar shall not issue his certificate until after the expiration of fourteen days after the receipt by him of such notice. And for every certificate as last mentioned he shall be entitled to a fee of five shillings.

“11. No such certificate shall be issued by any Registrar if any lawful impediment be shown to the satisfaction of such Registrar to the issue thereof, nor if the issue of such certificate shall have been forbidden in manner hereinafter mentioned by any person or persons authorized in that behalf as hereinafter provided.

“12. Before any certificate as aforesaid shall be granted by any such Registrar, one of the persons intending marriage shall appear personally before such Registrar, and shall 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 persons, not being a Widow or Widower, shall be under 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.

“13. Every such certificate as aforesaid issued by any such Registrar, shall be full authority for any Officiating Minister to celebrate any marriage, when both the persons intending to contract such marriage dwell in the same district. But if those persons dwell in different districts, certificates from the Registrars of both districts shall be required. Provided always that no such certificate or certificates shall oblige any Officiating Minister to solemnize any marriage.

“14. Whenever a marriage shall not have been celebrated within three calendar months after the notice herein required to be given shall have been given to the Registrar, such notice and any certificate which may have been granted thereupon shall be utterly void.”

“16. 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 shall be dead, the guardian or guardians of the person of the party so under age, lawfully appointed, or one of them; and in case there shall be no guardian or guar-