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which oath the Chairman of the Committee is hereby authorised to administer; and it shall also be competent for any such committee in its discretion, if it shall think fit, to receive affidavits relative to any of the matters referred to it, taken before any Justice of the Peace.

XV. If any person who shall have been summoned by any such committee, by a summons under the hand of the Chairman thereof, shall disobey such summons, or shall neglect to produce any documentary evidence, relating to the matter under investigation, which shall have been sent for by such committee, or shall refuse to submit himself to examination, such person shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £20 at the discretion of such committee.

XVI. Every such committee shall try the merits of the return or election complained of in the petition referred to them, and shall determine by a majority of votes whether the sitting member, or any other person, was duly returned or elected, or whether the election was void, and whether a new suit ought to issue; which determination shall be final between the parties to all intents and purposes.

XVII. All questions before any committee, if for the time being consisting of more than one member, shall be decided by a majority of votes; and, whenever the votes are equal the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote; and no member of the committee shall be allowed to refrain from voting on any question on which the committee is divided.

XVIII. It shall be lawful for any committee to award to the party prosecuting, or to the candidate against whom the petition shall have been presented, or to the person admitted to defend the petition or election, or to any witness who shall in pursuance of any summons under the hand of the Chairman of the Committee have attended to give evidence, such reasonable costs and expenses as such committee shall deem fit; and such costs and expenses shall be assessed and determined by the committee, and a certificate thereof given under the hand of the Chairman.

XIX. If such costs and expenses, when awarded against any person who may have given a bond as hereinbefore provided, be not paid on demand, the Chairman of the Council shall, upon application of the party entitled to such costs and expenses, cause the bond to be put in suit, and this money recovered on such bond shall be applied in such order as the committee shall have directed in satisfaction, so far as the sum will extend, of all costs and expenses intended to be secured by such bond. Provided always that in lieu of putting such bond in suit, the Chairman of the Council may assign the same to such person as he may think fit, and the endorsement on the bond of such person’s name, together with the signature of the Chairman of the Council, shall be deemed a valid and effectual assignment of the same.

XX. The petitioner or petitioners and the sitting member may be heard by counsel or agent.

XXI. All proceedings of the committee shall be open to the public, but the Chairman of such Committee may order the withdrawal of the public whenever any matter for discussion may arise within the committee.

XXII. Whenever a petition against the return of any member shall have been presented by an elector who was also a candidate for the seat involved, and such petition shall rely mainly or partially upon an allegation that unqualified votes have been recorded, it shall be competent for the Election Petitions Committee to enquire concerning the validity of any votes recorded for the petitioner which may be impugned by the member petitioned against. Provided that in every such case the member objecting enter into the same security for the payment of the costs of such enquiry as is imposed upon the petitioner.

Sealed with the Common Seal of the Corporation of the County Council and Inhabitants of the County of Westland, by me, Conrad Hoos, Chairman of the County Council, this twenty-third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.

C. Hoos.

In the presence of
J. HEAWOOD,
Secretary of the Council.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW ZEALAND.

WESTLAND DISTRICT.

Levy Execution Creditor v. Doyle Execution Debtor.
Judgment—18th November, 1868.

Levy Execution Creditor v. Doyle Execution Debtor.
Judgment—20th November, 1868.

NOTICE is hereby given that it is my intention to cause all that parcel of land in the County of Westland, New Zealand.