four, from "the offence of personation, or of aiding," to "hard labour," 46 & 47 Vict. and from "The offence of personation shall be deemed to be" to the end of the section. 42 & 43 Vict. c. 75. (The Parliamentary Elections and Corrupt Practices Act, 1879.) Section three and schedule. 43 Vict. c. 18. (The Parliamentary Elections and Corrupt Practices Act, 1880.) The whole Act, except sections one and three. c. 51. 48 Vict. c. 10. An Act to extend the Hours of Polling at 48 Vict. c. 10. Parliamentary and Municipal Elections. BE IT ENACTED, as follows:- [28th April, 1885. 1. At every parliamentary and every municipal election within Polling from the meaning of this Act, the poll (if any) shall commence at eight to eight. eight o'clock in the forenoon, and be kept open till eight o'clock in the afternoon of the same day and no longer. The time must be "Greenwich mean time:" Statutes (Definition of Time Act), 1880, 43 & 44 Vict. c. 9. 2. In this Act Meaning of The expression " parliamentary election" means an election "parliamen- [Meaning of the expression "municipal election."] 3. Upon this Act coming into operation the Parliamentary Repeal of Elections (Metropolis) Act, 1878, and the Elections (Hours of Acts of 1878 Poll) Act, 1884, shall be repealed, without prejudice to anything and 1884. previously done in pursuance thereof. By the Act of 1878 in metropolitan boroughs, and by the Act of 1884 in boroughs having more than 3000 electors, the hours, which were eight to four for boroughs under 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 36, and eight to five for counties under 16 & 17 Vict. c. 15, were fixed as fixed by this Act. "The Elections (Hours of Poll) Short title. 4. This Act may be cited as Act, 1885." 5. This Act shall come into operation at the end of this sent Parliament. 48 & 49 Vict. c. 23, ss. 8 (4), 9 (3), 12–16, 27, 28. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885. 8.-(4.) At a general parliamentary election the polls (if any) for the divisions in a divided borough shall be taken on the same day, such day to be fixed by the returning officer of the borough, but nothing in this sub-section shall be taken to enlarge or extend the discretion vested in him by the Ballot Act, 1872, as to fixing the day of poll. For the three first paragraphs of this section which deal with electoral areas, see p. 259. 9.-(3.) Subject to the provisions of this Act the members for each such division of a county shall be elected by persons qualified in the same manner, and the nomination and other proceedings at parliamentary elections for such division shall be conducted in the same manner, as if such division were a separate constituency, and the law relating to parliamentary elections shall apply to each such division as if it were a separate county. For the two first paragraphs of this section which deal with areas, see p. 260. 12.-(1.) Save as in this Act mentioned, in each of the Parliamentary boroughs constituted under this Act in which there is not, for the time being, a mayor, a returning officer shall be appointed in like manner as if such borough were included among the boroughs mentioned in Schedule (C.) to the Act of the session of the second and third years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter forty-five, intituled "An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales," for which boroughs no persons are specified in such schedule as returning officers. Provided that every sheriff shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, appoint a returning officer for each parliamentary borough which is constituted under this Act, and is within his jurisdiction, and requires such appointment, and any returning officer so appointed shall hold his office until the time in the ensuing year fixed by law for the appointment of returning officers. (2.) A returning officer of a parliamentary borough appoinied by a sheriff of a county in pursuance of section eleven of the said Act, or of any enactment (whether in this or any other Act) applying that section, need not be resident in the borough for which he is returning officer, provided that, if not so resident, he shall have an office therein for the purpose of his duties in relation to the registration of voters and to elections in such borough. (3.) Where a parliamentary borough is situate in more than one county, the returning officer appointed as above mentioned shall be appointed by the sheriff of the county in which the 48 & 49 Vict. largest part of such parliamentary borough in extent is situate. c. 23. If possessing two mayors. * p. 464. Writ as accustomed, or to mayor of most populous borough. (4.) Whereas by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, it is enacted that if there are more mayors than one within the boundaries of a parliamentary borough, the mayor of that municipal borough to which the writ of election is directed shall be the returning officer: Be it therefore enacted that— In any such case the writ of election shall be directed to the mayor of that one of the municipal boroughs to the mayor of which the writ has before the passing of this Act been directed, or if it has not been directed to any such mayor, then to the mayor of that one of the municipal boroughs which has the largest population according to the last census for the time being, and in any such case the town clerk of the municipal Town clerk. borough, the mayor of which is the returning officer, shall be the town clerk who, under the Registration Acts, is to receive the revised lists of parliamentary voters from the revising barrister, and is to copy and print them and to deliver the register of voters to the returning officer, and the council of the same borough shall be the council to allow the expenses of such town clerk. (5.) In any new borough constituted under this Act, the For Westwhole or the larger part of the area of which was before the minster. passing of this Act comprised in the parliamentary borough of Westminster, the high bailiff of Westminster shall be the returning officer for the new borough, and also the town clerk for the new borough within the meaning of the Registration Acts, and may, by writing under his hand, appoint a fit person to be his deputy for all or any of the purposes relating to Deputy. parliamentary elections in any such new borough, and anything in relation to a parliamentary election authorized or required to be done by, to, or before the returning officer, may be done by, to, or before the high bailiff himself or such deputy. (6.) Every such deputy shall, in so far as he acts as returning officer, be deemed to be included in the expression "returning officer" within the meaning of the law relating to parliamentary elections. See note to s. 11 of the Reform Act, 1832 (p. 398). The parliamentary boroughs of the Strand and St. George's, Hanover Square, were comprised in Westminster before the passing of this Act. officers in divided boroughs 13. Where a parliamentary borough is divided into divisions, Deputies of the returning officer of such borough shall be the returning returning officer for each division, and may, by writing under his hand, appoint a fit person to be his deputy for all or any of the purposes relating to a parliamentary election in any such division, and anything in relation to a parliamentary election authorized or required to be done by, to, or before the returning officer (except the fixing of the day for taking the polls), may 48 & 49 Vict. be done by, to, or before the returning officer himself or such c. 23, ss. 13-16. deputy. (2.) Every such deputy shall, in so far as he acts as returning officer, be deemed to be included in the expression "returning officer" within the meaning of the law relating to parliamentary elections. (3.) For the purpose of determining the distance of the residence of any voter, and for all purposes of and incidental to the registration of voters in a parliamentary borough divided into divisions, and for the purpose of the enactments respecting the division of any such borough into polling districts, all the divisions shall be deemed to form the same parliamentary borough: Provided that the lists and register of voters for the borough shall be framed, printed, and arranged in parts so as to correspond to the divisions thereof; and the voters in each division shall be numbered in a separate series. (4.) In a borough divided into divisions, the election for two or more of such divisions shall be deemed to be the same election within the meaning of the enactments relating to personation and to voting, and the question which may be asked of voters at the poll shall be, "Have you already voted here or elsewhere at this election for the borough of either in this or in any other division?" (5.) Subject to the provisions of this Act, where any parliamentary borough is divided into divisions, the members for each division of such borough shall be elected by the persons registered in such division as voters for the borough, and the nomination and other proceedings at parliamentary elections for such division shall be conducted in the same manner as if such division were a separate constituency, and the law relating to parliamentary elections shall apply to each division as if it were a separate parliamentary borough. For deputy returning officers in divided counties, see s. 8 of the Ballot Act, 1872, p. 436. The deputy is a returning officer within the meaning of the Returning Officers Act, 1875 (p. 457). [14. Registration of freemen in divided boroughs. See p. 236.] * 15. For the purposes of the provision of the schedule to the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, with respect to the voting of any paid election agent, sub-agent, polling agent, clerk, or messenger, a parliamentary borough divided into divisions shall be deemed to form one borough, and any such agent, clerk, or messenger employed for payment at an election for any division may not vote in any other division of the borough. 16. (1.) The place of election in the case of a divison of a county at large shall be in such town situate in the said county at large, or in a county of a city or town adjoining the said county at large, as the local authority having power to divide CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT, 1885. the division into polling districts, or in default of any deter- 48 & 49 Vict. (2.) The place of election, in the case of a parliamentary In boroughs [27. Repeal of Acts disfranchising certain persons. p. 72.] [28. Disfranchisement of certain persons. See p. 72.] See c. 56. 48 & 49 Vict. c. 56. An Act to amend the Law with 48 & 49 Vict. respect to Corrupt Practices at Parliamentary Elections. [6th August, 1885. "Whereas doubts have arisen as to whether or not it be lawful for an employer of labour to permit electors in his regular employ to absent themselves from their employment for the purpose of recording their votes at any parliamentary election, without making a deduction from the salary or wages of such electors for the time reasonably occupied in recording their votes: And whereas it is expedient to remove such doubts: : absence to employés to record their votes without deducting give leave of 1. Nothing in the law relating to parliamentary elections Employer may shall make it illegal for an employer to permit parliamentary electors in his employment to absent themselves from such employment for a reasonable time for the purpose of voting at the poll at a parliamentary election, without having any deduction from their salaries or wages on account of such absence, if such permission is, so far as practicable without injury to the business wages. of the employer, given equally to all persons alike who are at the time in his employment, and if such permission is not given with a view of inducing any person to record his vote for any particular candidate at such election, and is not refused to any person for the purpose of preventing such person from recording his vote for any particular candidate at such election. In Truscott v. Bevan, 44 L. T. 64, where a holiday was given to a candidate's work people, being voters and others, their wages were paid, and they were supplied with colours and conveyed to the poll, whereas on the previous occasion when the employer was not a candidate, the workpeople had a holiday but no wages, the return was declared void for bribery. That case does not decide that giving voters the time to vote without deduction from their wages |