For each ballot box required to be The actual outlay not ex

For printing or advertising notices (other than those herein provided for).

For professional and other assistance in and about the conduct of the election.

For travelling expenses of presiding officers and clerks, per mile.

For the distribution and posting up of notices.

For publishing notices of election agents and sub-agents and abstracts of candidates' accounts of election expenses.

For all other expenses

Not exceeding for the whole of such notices 107., and 17. for every additional 1,000 electors above 5,000.

In a contested election, not exceeding 207., and an additional 17. for every 1,000 registered electors or fraction thereof above 6,000. In an uncontested election one half of the above sums.

£0 1s. Od. No travelling expenses to be allowed beyond the limits of the sheriffdom.

The actual outlay not exceeding 27.

The sums actually disbursed for a single insertion in one newspaper.

In a contested election, not exceeding 107. In an uncontested election, nil.

PART III.-DEPUTY RETURNING OFFICERS.

The fees prescribed by 48 & 49 Vict. c. 62.

NOTE to SCHEDULE.-The above sums are the aggregate charges, the amount of which is to be apportioned among the several candidates or other persons liable for the same, but in the apportionment care shall be taken that each candidate shall pay for the advertising of the notice or notices of his own election agents and sub-agents, and of the abstract of his own account of election expenses.

The necessary printed copies of the register of voters required for polling shall be supplied by the county and burgh authorities respectively without charge.

A returning officer in Scotland is not entitled to payment for any services or expenses other than the reason

able charges mentioned, or at any greater rates than in the above schedule (54 & 55 Vict. c. 49, s. 3). The Act, however, does not prevent him from employing special steamers or boats in the case of a constituency having a polling-place so situated as not to be accessible except by sea. The expenses incurred through such an employment must be included in the returning officer's account and are subject to taxation (s. 4). It is the duty of a returning officer, as far as practicable, to make use of ballot-boxes, fittings, and compartments provided for county council, municipal, or school board elections, and of sheriff, court and municipal buildings. The use of these things must be allowed by the authorities in possession thereof without any charge beyond what is necessary to make good damage done (s. 5).

The appointment of a deputy or of any other officer appointed by a returning officer does not fail by reason of the death or disability of the returning officer subsequent to the issue of the notice of the election (s. 6). The taxation of returning officers' charges in Scotland is governed by the Returning Officers (Scotland) Act,

1886.

By this Act it is provided that if the person from whom payment is claimed objects to any part of the claim, he may, at any time within fourteen days from the time when the account is transmitted to him, make written application to the auditor of the Court of Session for a taxation of the account. Against the deliverance of the auditor either party may appeal by lodging a note of objections to the deliverance within ten days after it has been pronounced with the judges appointed for the trial of election petitions of Scotland. The decision of these judges is final (49 & 50 Vict. c. 58, s. 3).

This Act further provides that where an application is made for the taxation of an account, 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, s. 29, sub-s. 5, shall not apply, and that it shall not be necessary that the expenses of a returning officer be paid within twenty-eight days from the day on which the election is declared (ib.).

Petition.

[The following notes are merely intended, as a natural conclusion, to enable a candidate who may think of petitioning to form some notion of the procedure necessary to set an Election Court in motion.]

I. WHO MAY PETITION.

Any one or more of the following persons may petition: (1) Some person who voted, or who had a right to vote at the election to which the petition relates; or (2) Some person claiming to have had a right to be returned or elected at such election; or

(3) Some person alleging himself to have been a candidate at such election (31 & 32 Vict. c. 125, s. 5).

NOTE.-Where a petition is presented by electors, it is well to have several petitioners, in case objection should be taken. Care should also be had that the petitioning electors are men whose status is ascertained.

II. THE TIME FOR PETITIONING.

A petition must be presented within twenty-one days after the return has been made, as it is in England and Scotland, to the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery in England, or to the Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper in Ireland, unless it questions the return or election upon an allegation of corrupt practices, and specifically alleges a payment of money or other reward to have been made by any member, or on his account, or with his privity, since the time of such election, in pursuance or in furtherance of such corrupt practices, in which case the petition may be presented at any time within twenty-eight days after the date of such payment (31 & 32 Vict. c. 125, s. 6, sub-s. 2), or, unless it questions the return or the election upon an allegation of an illegal practice, in which case the petition may be presented

(a) at any time before the expiration of fourteen days after the day on which the returning officer receives

the return and declarations respecting election expenses by the member, to whose election the petition relates, and his election agent; or (b) If the petition specifically alleges a payment of money, or some other act to have been made or done since the said day by the member or an agent of the member, or with the privity of the member or his election agent, in pursuance or furtherance of the illegal practice alleged in the petition, it may be presented at any time within twenty-eight days after the date of such payment or other act (46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, s. 40, sub-s. 1). [For the purposes of this section, (a) where the return and declarations are received on different days, the day on which the last of them is received, and (b) where there is an authorized excuse for failing to make or transmit the return and declarations, the date of the allowance of the excuse, shall be substituted for the day on which the return and declarations are received by the returning officer (ib. sub-s. 4).

NOTE.-The return* is not considered as made until the writ, with the certificate of the returning officer endorsed on it, reaches the clerk of the Crown in Chancery, so that he can act upon it (Hurdle v. Waring, L. R. 9 C. P. 435; 31 & 32 Vict. c. 125, s. 6, sub-s. 2; 35 & 36 Vict. c. 33, s. 2, and sched. 1, r. 44).

Sundays are not included in reckoning the number of days allowed (Pease v. Norwood, L. R. 4 C. P. 235).

The days are to be computed exclusive of the first, and inclusive of the last, day.

III. GROUNDS OF PETITION.

Any matters which, if proved, would avoid the election, may be alleged as the grounds for a petition.

NOTE. An election may be upset on any of these grounds :

(1) Incapacity of the successful candidate (v. List of Persons Disqualified, pp. 1—20).