shall be reduced to four, and such four, together with the two XXV. If on the day so to be appointed as aforesaid for selecting XXVI. When the committee shall have been chosen as aforesaid, the Speaker shall cause notice thereof in writing to be given to each of the members so selected, and require his attendance at a certain time and place, to be fixed by the Speaker, for the purpose of holding the first meeting of the committee. XXVII. Every member of the committee, before he shall act, shall be sworn at the table of the House by the clerk, well and truly to try the merits of the petition referred to the committee, and a true judgment give according to the evidence. XXVIII. Every such committee shall sit from day to day, Sunday, Christmas Day, and Good Friday only excepted, and shall never adjourn for more than thirty hours unless a Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday intervene, and in such case for not more than thirty hours exclusive of such Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday, without leave first obtained from the House upon motion, and a special cause assigned for a longer adjournment: Provided always, that if such select committee have occasion to apply or report to the House, and the House be then adjourned for more than thirty hours, such select committee may also adjourn to the day appointed for the meeting of the House. XXIX. Every member of a select committee appointed to try the merits of any election petition who shall absent himself from any meeting of the committee, without the leave of the House, may be ordered by the House to be taken into custody by the sergeant-atarms for such neglect of duty, and shall be censured or punished by a fine not exceeding £20, at the discretion of the House, and kept in such custody for ten days unless the fine be sooner paid, or such member be discharged by order of the House, unless it shall appear by facts specially stated and verified upon oath, to be sworn before the Speaker that such member was by necessity prevented from attending. XXX. If the number of members able to attend such committee be unavoidably reduced to less than three, and so continue for the space of three sitting days, such committee shall be dissolved, and another, to be appointed in manner hereinbefore provided, shall be appointed to try the merits of the petition: Provided always, that if the parties before the committee consent thereto the two remaining members of the committee, or the sole remaining member, if only one shall continue to act, shall thenceforward constitute the committee. XXXL. Every committee shall have power to regulate the form and manner of its proceedings, and to adjourn from time to time, subject nevertheless as herein before mentioned: Provided always that every committee, shall be guided by justice and good conscience, without regard to legal forms and solemnities, and shall direct themselves by the best evidence they them, whether the same be such evidence as the law would require in other cases or not: Provided also that the proceedings before any such committee shall be open to the public, except when the committee shall think fit to deliberate amongst themselves before coming to a decision on any question: And provided also that such proceedings shall not in any case extend beyond seven sitting days, and if no decision be come to within that period, the chairman of such committee shall, on such evidence as is then before such committee, pronounce a decision, and every decision, whether so pronounced by the committee or by the chairman, shall be final and conclusive without appeal. (a.) can procure, or that is laid before XXXII. 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. XXXIII. Whenever a committee is divided upon any question, the names of the members voting in the affirmative, and of those voting in the negative shall be separately entered on the minutes of the committee, and shall be reported to the House with the question on which such decision took place, at the same time with the final report of the committee. XXXIV. Every such committee shall be attended by a competent clerk, who shall make a minute of all proceedings of the committee in such form and manner as shall be from time to time directed by the committee, and a copy of the minutes shall be laid from time to time, or at the termination of the enquiry, before the House. XXXV. Every such committee may send for persons, books, papers, records, and other documentary evidence, and may examine any person they may think fit, whether a party to the proceedings before them or not upon oath, 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, which affidavit justices of the peace are hereby authorised and required to take. XXXVI. If any person, whether a party to the proceedings or not, 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 or refuse to produce any books, papers, records, or other documentary evidence relating to or affecting the matter under investigation, which shall have been sent for by any such committee, or shall refuse to submit himself to examination, or shall give false evidence, or prevaricate, or otherwise misbehave in giving or refusing to give evidence, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour; and it shall be lawful for the chairman of any committee, when authorised by a resolution passed by the committee, to direct by a warrant under his hand, the sergeant-at-arms of the House, or some other person to be employed by the chairman for that purpose, to take any person so offending into custody, and at the earliest convenient time to take him before a justice of the peace: Provided always that no person shall be kept in custody for more than forty-eight hours, before being taken before a justice of the peace: Provided also, that if any person be discharged at the end of forty-eight hours in consequence of there not having been found a justice of the peace to hear the case, such person may be prosecuted at any future time on the charge against him being preferred in the usual way. (a.) Repealed by sec. 5, 26 Vic. No. 4, "Election Petitions Act Amendment Act, 1862." : XXXVII. Every person who wilfully gives false evidence before any committee, or who wilfully swears falsely in any affidavit authorised by this Act, shall on conviction thereof be liable to the penalties of wilful and corrupt perjury; and every such person may be taken into custody, and dealt with in manner prescribed by the last preceding section of this Act. XXXVIII. Every such committee shall try the merits of the return or election complained of in the election petition referred to them, and shall determine by a majority of votes, if for the time being consisting of more than one member, whether the sitting member or any other person, was duly returned or elected, or whether the election was void, and whether a new writ ought to issue, which determination shall be final between the parties to all intents and purposes; and the House, on the same being reported to them, shall order such report to be entered on their journal, and shall give the necessary directions for confirming or altering the return, or for ordering a return to be made, or for causing a writ for a new election to be issued, or for carrying the said determination into effect, as the case may require: provided always, that the electoral roll shall be deemed and taken to be conclusive evidence that the persons therein named were duly qualified to vote. XXXIX. If any committee come to a resolution other than the determination above mentioned, they shall, if they think proper, report the same to the House for its opinion, and the House may confirm or disagree with such resolution, and may make such orders therein as to it may seem proper. XL. If the General Assembly be prorogued after the appointment of any committee, and before they have so reported to the House their determination, such committee shall not be dissolved by such prorogation, but shall be thereby adjourned till twelve o'clock on the day immediately following that on which the General Assembly meets again for the despatch of business, and all proceedings of such committee, shall be of the same force and effect as if the General Assembly had not been so prorogued, and such committee shall meet on the day and at the hour to which it is so adjourned, and shall thereupon continue to sit from day to day in the manner hereinbefore provided, until they have reported their determination on the merits of such petition. XLI. 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 return 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 being given under the hand of the chairman shall be recoverable by action of debt in any Court of competent jurisdiction from the party by such award made liable to pay the same: Provided always, that the validity of such certificate (the handwriting thereto of such chairman being duly verified) shall not be called in question in any Court. XLII. 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 Speaker shall, upon application of the party entitled to such costs and expenses, cause the bond to be put in suit, and the money recovered on such bond shall be applied in suc such order as the committee shall have directed, in satisfaction, so far as the sum will extend, of all the costs and expenses intended to be secured by such M bond: Provided always, that before putting such bond in suit, the Speaker may, if he think fit, require security to be given to his satis. faction, to indemnify him against all costs and expenses which he may be put to thereby: Provided always, that in lieu of putting such bond in suit, the Speaker 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 speaker, shall be deemed a valid, and effectual assignment of the same. XLIII. In every case in which payment of any money shall have been made into a bank, instead of giving security as hereinbefore provided, the examiner shall be bound in the first place, and in such order of payment as shall be directed by the committee, to satisfy out of the said money all the costs and expenses for securing payment of which such investment was made, or so much thereof as can be thereby satisfied, and thereafter to pay the surplus (if any) to the person by whom such money was paid in. XLIV. If any returning officer shall wilfully delay, neglect, or refuse, duly to return any person who ought to be returned as a member of the House of Representatives, such person may in case it shall have been determined by a committee that such person was entitled to have been returned, sue the returning officer having so wilfully delayed, neglected, or refused duly to make such return of his election, in the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and shall recover double the damages he has sustained by reason thereof, together with full costs of action: Provided that such action be commenced within three months after the conclusion of any proceedings in the House of Representatives relating to such election. XLV. In the construction of this Act, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction, the word "House" shall mean the House of Representatives; the word "Speaker" shall mean the Speaker of the House of Representatives; the word "examiner" shall mean the examiner of election bonds; and the word "committee" shall mean the committee appointed under this Act to try the merits of any election petition as defined in section number one of this Act. XLVI. The short title of this Act shall be "Election Petitions Act, 1858." SCHEDULE. - FORM OF CONDITION OF BOND. The condition of the above written bond is such that if (here insert the names of all the petitioners, and if more than one, add, or any of them) shall well and truly pay all costs and expenses in respect of the election petition signed by him (or them) relating to the electoral district of (here insert name of electoral district) which shall become payable to the petitioner (or petitioners) under the "Election Petitions Act, 1858," to any witness summoned in his (or their) behalf, or to the sitting member, or other party complained of in the said petition, or to any party who may be admitted to defend the same as provided by the said Act, then the above written bond to be void, otherwise, to be of full force and effect. 24 Vic., No. 12. - An Act to make further provision for the representation of the people of New Zealand in the General Assembly. (a) [20th October, 1860.] BE IT ENACTED by the General Assembly of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : (a) CONTENTS:-1. Short title. 2. House to consist of 53 members. 3. Electoral districts established. 4. Names of districts and number of members. 5. Maps of districts to be made. 6. New rolls to be formed. 7. Mode of forming I. The short title of this Act shall be "The Representation Act, 1860." II. After the dissolution of the present Parliament the House of Representatives shall consist of 53 members. (a) III. For the purposes of the election of members of the said house, the Colony shall be divided into forty-three electoral districts, as the same are respectively defined and set forth in the schedule to this Act. IV. The names of such electoral districts, and the number of members to be returned by each district respectively, shall be as follows:- (b) One member. One member. 3. Marsden 4. Northern Division 5. City of Auckland East One member. 6. City of Auckland West Two members. 7. Parnell One member. 8. Newton One member. 9. Pensioner Settlements One member. 10. Town of Onehunga One member. 11. Franklin Two members. : 12. Raglan One member. 13. Grey and Bell One member. 14. Town of New Plymouth One member. 15. Omata One member. 16. Wanganui One member. 17. Rangatiki One member. 18. Porirua One member. 19. City of Wellington 20. Hutt 21. Wairarapa Ihree members. Two members. One member. 22. Napier One member. 23. Clive One member. 24. Collingwood . One member. 25. Motueka One member. 26. City of Nelson Two members. 27. Suburbs of Nelson One member. 28. Waimea One member. 29. Picton One member. 30. Wairau • One member. 31. Cheviot One member. 32. Kaiapoi One member. 33. Avon One member. 34. Heathcote One member. 35. Ellesmere One member. 36. City of Christchurch One member. 37. Town of Lyttelton One member. 38. Akaroa One member. 39. Timaru One member. 40. Hampden One member. 41. Bruce Two members. 42. City of Dunedin Two members. 43. Wallace Two members. V. The Colonial Secretary shall cause properly authenticated maps of the said electoral districts to be deposited in the office of the clerk of the said House. new rolls. 8. Publication and effect of new rolls. 9. Writs when to be issued. 10. If necessary, Governor may issue writs for new Parliament without reference to this Act. 11. Electoral Districts Act, 1858, repealed. (a) See sec. 2, 26 Vic., No. 11, the "Representation Act, 1862; sec. 2, 29 Vic., No 70, the "Representation Act, 1865." (b) See secs. 3 and 4, 26 Vic., No. 11, the "Representation Act, 1862;" see also sec. 3, 29 Vic., No 70, the "Representation Act, 1865." |