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in the case of Clementson v. Mason, 10 L. R., C. P. 209; 44 L. J., C. P. 171; 32 L. T., N.S. 325; 23 W. R., 620, such appointments were recognized, Denman J. observed, "though the present is the case of a municipal election, I think that the agents appointed by the candidate are personating agents, having precisely the same duties as those appointed in the case of a parliamentary election."

As to the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, with respect to agents of candidates, see sec. 4, and Rules 21, 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 51, 53, 54, and 55 in the First Schedule to that Act, post.

Questions which may be put to Voters.

59.-(1.) At an election of councillors, the presiding officer shall, if required by two burgesses, or by a candidate or his agent, put to any person offering to vote, at the time of his presenting himself to vote, but not afterwards, the following questions, or either of them:

(a.) Are you the person enrolled in the burgess [or ward] roll now in force for this borough [or ward] as follows [read the whole entry from the roll? (b.) Have you already voted at the present election [add in case of an election for several wards, in this or any other ward]?

(2.) The vote of a person required to answer either of these questions shall not be received until he has answered it.

(3.) If any person wilfully makes a false answer thereto he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.

(4) Save as by this Act authorized, no inquiry shall be permitted at an election as to the right of any person to

vote.

ELECTION OF ALDERMEN.

Time and mode of Election of Aldermen.

60.-(1.) The ordinary day of election of aldermen shall be the ninth of November, and the election shall be held at the quarterly meeting of the council.1

(2.) The election shall be held immediately after the election of the mayor, or, if there is a sheriff, the appointment of the sheriff.2

(3.) An outgoing alderman, although mayor elect, shall not vote.3

(4) Every person entitled to vote may vote for any number of persons not exceeding the number of vacancies,

by signing and personally delivering at the meeting to the chairman a voting paper containing the surnames and other names and places of abode and descriptions of the persons for whom he votes.1

(5.) The chairman, as soon as all the voting papers have been delivered to him, shall openly produce and read them, or cause them to be read, and then deliver them to the town clerk, to be kept for twelve months.5

(6.) In case of equality of votes the chairman, although as an outgoing alderman or otherwise not entitled to vote in the first instance, shall have the casting vote.

(7.) The persors, not exceeding the number of vacancies who have the greatest number of votes, shall be declared by the chairman to be, and thereupon shall be, elected.

1 The aldermen are to be fit persons elected by the council, and a person is not qualified to be elected unless he is a councillor, or qualified to be a

councillor.

As to the number, term of office, and rotation of aldermen, see sec. 14.

If the ninth of November is a Sunday, or a day appointed for public fast, humiliation, or thanksgiving, the day of election will be the next day afterwards, not being a Sunday or a day appointed for public fast, &c., as the case may be. Sec. 230.

As to the case of an omission to elect on the appointed day, see sec. 70. Rule 2 in the Second Schedule requires that a quarterly meeting shall be held at noon on each ninth of November. See also Rules 5, 6, 7, and 8 as to notice of meetings, &c.

2 As to the election of mayor preceding that of the aldermen, see R. v. McGowan and R. v. Dudley, referred to in note to sec. 61.

3 The provision that an outgoing alderman shall not vote, is in accordance with the decision in R. v. Maddy, 11 A. & E. 886.

See exception in sub-section 6 as to casting vote when chairman is an outgoing alderman.

The voting papers used in the election of aldermen at a meeting of the town council, are not subject to stamp duty under the Stamp Act, 1870. R. v. Strachan, L. R., 7 Q. B. 463; 41 L. J., Q. B. 210; 26 L. T., N.s. 835. Section 241 provides that a misnomer or inaccurate description of any person or place named in any notice or voting paper required by the Act shall not hinder the full operation of the Act with respect to such person or place, provided the description is such as to be commonly understood.

In R. v. Bradley, 3 E. & E. 634; 30 L. J., Q. B. 180; 3 L. T., N.s. 853; 7 Jur., N.S. 757, it was held that it is not necessary that in the voting papers in the election of an alderman the christian name of the person voted for should be written at full length; and that if such a contraction is written as is ordinarily used as representing the christian name, it is sufficient. See also R. v. Avery, 18 Q. B. 576; 21 L. J., Q. B. 153; 17 Jur., 194.

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If the initial of the christian name instead of the christian name itself is given, it would appear to be a misnomer," which is covered by sec. 241. (See R. v. Plenty, L. R., 4 Q. B. 346; 38 L. J., Q. B. 205; 20 L. T., N.S. 520). In R. v. Deighton, 5 Q. B. 896; 13 L. J., Q. B. 241 ; 8 Jur., 686, it was held that when voting papers in the election of an alderman did not contain an accurate description of the place of abode of the person voted for (the place where he daily transacted his business, instead of his place of abode being given) the votes were bad, although such description was made without fraud or intention to mislead, and was such as would be commonly understood to

apply to the person voted for.

153; 16 Jur., 194, 17 Q. B. 772.

See also R. v. Hammond, 21 L. J., Q. B.

In R. v. Coward, 16 Q. B. 819; 20 L. J., Q. B. 359; 17 L. T. 71; 15 Jur., 726, it appeared that a candidate in the election of councillors, a few days prior to the election, removed from Gouville Road to Newmarket Road. His place of residence was described in the voting papers as Gouville Place instead of Newmarket Road, the two places being situate in different wards. It was held that this was not "an inaccurate description of a place," which was cured by the provision as to misnomers, &c., as that provision applied only to the inaccurate description of a right place, not to the accurate description of a wrong place.

In the case of a voting paper in the election of councillors which contained the name and surname of the candidate and his place of abode, but no description of the candidate, it was held that the omission of the description of the candidate, although there might be no doubt as to the person for whom the vote was intended to be given, was not covered by the provision as to misnomer and inaccurate descriptions, and rendered the vote had. R. v. Tugwell, L. R., 3 Q. B. 704.

R. v.

R. v. Gregory, 1 E. & B. 600; 22 L. J., Q. B. 120; 17 Jur., 272. Thwaites, 1 E. & B. 704; 22 L. J., Q. B. 238; 17 Jur., 712; and R. v. Spratley, 6 E. & B. 363; 25 L. J., Q. B., 257; 2 Jur., N.S. 735, also relate to misnomers or inaccurate descriptions in burgess roll and voting papers.

5 As to the person who is to be chairman of the meeting, see Rule 9 in Second Schedule.

When at a meeting of the town council a minority of the councillors present delivered voting papers to the mayor for certain persons to be elected aldermen, and the town clerk having advised that the day was not the proper one for the election, the mayor, and a majority of the council declined to proceed with the election, and no election was declared, it was held, that although the day was the one on which the council should have proceeded to an election, the act of the minority was not the act of the town council, and that there had been no election. R. v. Mayor, &c., of Bradford, 20 L. J., Q. B. 227.

ELECTION OF MAYOR.

Time and Mode of Election of Mayor.

61.-(1.) The ordinary day of election of mayor shall be the ninth of November.1

(2.) The election of mayor shall be the first business transacted at the quarterly meeting of the council on the day of election.2

(3.) An outgoing alderman may vote although the person for whom he votes is an alderman.

(4) In case of equality of votes, the chairman, although not entitled to vote in the first instance, shall have the casting vote.3

1 With reference to the qualification, term of office, salary, &c., of mayor, see sec. 15.

As to the day of election, see notes (1) on sec. 60.

2 The election of mayor on the 9th November, must precede that of alder. men. A prior election of alderman, whether at the quarterly meeting on that

day or at an earlier meeting on the same day, is void. R. v. McGowan and R. v. Dudley, 11 A. & E. 869, 886; 4 Jur., 913.

As to the person who is to preside as chairman, see Rule 9 in the Second Schedule.

ELECTION OF AUDITORS AND Assessors.

Time and Mode of Election of Auditors and Assessors.

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62. (1.) The ordinary day of election of elective auditors shall be the first of March, or such other day as the council, with the approval of the Local Government Board, from time to time appoint.1

(2.) The ordinary day of election of revising assessors shall be the first of March.2

(3.) If the election of elective auditors and that of revising assessors are held at the same time, then at the poll one voting paper only shall be used by any person voting. The names of the candidates for the respective offices shall be therein separate, and distinguished so as to show the office for which each is a candidate, and the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, shall be varied accordingly; but in the counting of the votes every voting paper shall be deemed to be a separate voting paper in respect of each office, and any objections thereto shall be considered and dealt with accordingly.3

(4.) An elector shall not vote for more than one person to be elective auditor or revising assessor.

(5.) Elections of elective auditors and of revising assessors shall be held at the town hall or some one other convenient place appointed by the mayor.

(6.) Save as in this section provided, all the provisions of this Act with respect to the nomination and election of councillors for a borough not having wards shall apply to the nomination and election of elective auditors and revising assessors.5

1 As to the election of elective auditors by the burgesses, and the appointment of Mayor's auditor by the Mayor, the persons who may be elected and appointed, the term of office of the auditors, and the filling up of a casual vacancy, see sec. 25.

As to the case of the first of March, or other day appointed with the approval of the Local Government Board for the election of elective auditors falling on a Sunday, &c., see sec. 230. As to omission to elect on the day prescribed, see

sec. 70.

The appointment of the Mayor's auditor is to be made on the ordinary day of election of the elective auditors. Sec. 25 (5).

2 Revising assessors, it will be borne in mind, can only be elected in a borough where no part of the area of the borough is co-extensive with or in

cluded in the area of a parliamentary borough. As to the persons who are eligible, the term of office of revising assessors, and the appointment of deputies, see sec. 29.

With reference to the first of March falling on a Sunday, &c., see sec. 230; and as to an omission to elect on the day prescribed, sec. 70.

3 Any notice required to be given in connection with a municipal election, may, as to auditors and assessors, be comprised in one notice, see sec. 65.

For provisions of Ballot Act, 1872, with reference to municipal elections, see Appendix, p. 247, and for form cf ballot paper, see p. 237.

The election is not to be held in any church, chapel, or other place of worship, see sec. 69.

See secs 51, 53-59, and Part II. of Third Schedulc, p. 221.

SUPPLEMENTAL AND EXCEPTIONAL PROVISIONS.
Right of Women to Vote.

63. For all purposes connected with and having reference to the right to vote at municipal elections words in this Act importing the masculine gender include women.

A single woman, if otherwise qualified is by this section entitled to be enrolled as a burgess. With regard to married woman, see R. v. Harrald, L. R., 7 Q. B. 361; 41 L. J., Q. B. 173; 26 L. T., N.S. 616. In that case, at the election of town councillors for one of the wards of the borough of Sunderland, H. was returned as elected by a majority of one vote. The majority included the votes of two married women. One of these women, A. T., at the time she was put upon the burgess roll was married, but was living apart from her husband, and was occupying a house and paying rates as a single woman. The other, N. S., was a single woman when placed upon the burgess roll, but had married a few days before the election. Cockburn, C. J.: It is impossible to hold that the vote of A. T., who was a married woman when she was placed on the burgess roll, was a good vote. By the common law a married woman's status was so entirely merged in that of her husband that she was incapable of exercising almost all public functions. It was thought to be a hardship that when women bore their share of the public burthens in respect of the occupation of property, they should not also share the right to the municipal franchise and be represented; and it was thought that spinsters and unmarried women ought to be allowed to exercise these rights. It was accordingly enacted that wherever men were entitled to vote, women, being in the same situation, should thereafter be entitled: but this only referred to women possessed of the necessary qualification in respect of property and the payment of rates. It was not intended to alter the status of married women. It seemed clear that the statute had not married women in its contemplation. Nor can it be supposed that the subsequent statute (the Married Women's Property Act), by which the status of married women with regard to the power to hold property has been recognized and established, has by a side-wind given them political or municipal rights. As regards the case of N. S., the circumstances are different. Although she was a single woman when placed on the burgess roll, she was at the time of the election married. There is in the case of this vote, therefore, sufficient doubt as to the validity of the vote to call for further inquiry, and the rule for a quo warranto must be made absolute.

Polling Districts.

64. The council may divide the borough or any ward into polling districts, and thereupon the overseers shall, as

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