honor to submit the amended clauses, and to recommend that they should be ....
year at which the entire electoral list for the province district or division in.
1856-7.
VICTOHIA.
REPORT :VROM THE
SELECT COMMITTEE Ul'ON THE
ELECTORAL ACT AMENDMENT BILL, TOGETHER WlTII TJIE
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE.
Orde1·ed by the Legislative Assembly to be printed, 30th Septembe1·, 1857.
till
SntboritR :
JOHN .FERRES, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE.
D.-No..li6.a.
EXTRACTED FROM THE MINUTES. TUESDAY, 4TH AUGUST, 1857, ELECTORAL AcT AMENDMEST BILL.-The Order of the Day for the further coll.Sideration of this Bill in Committee of the whole Assembly having been read. Mr. Haines moved, That this Order ot the Day he dillohal-ged. · • Question-put and resolved in the alll.rmative. Mr. Haines then moved, by leave of the Assembly, That this Bill be referred to a Select Committee, to coll.Sider and report upon the Registration Clauses contained therein; the Committee to coll.Sist of Mr. Foster, Mr. O'Shanassy, Mr. Gavan Duffy, Dr. Owell.S, Mr. Griflith, Mr. Adamson. Mr. Sladen, Mr. Service, Mr. H~y, Mr. Sitwell, and the Mover, and that the Committee do bring up their report within ten days from this date-. Question-put and resolved in the afll.rmative.
REPORT.
THE SELECT CoMMITTEE appointed by your Honorable House to report upon the registration clauses contained in the " Bill to extend the right qf Voting H
and to provide for the registration
of Parliamentary Electors" have the
honor to submit the amended clauses, and to recommend that they should be substituted for those referred to them.
Committee-room, 30th September, 1857•
•
.
'
CLAUSES TO THE ELECTORAL ACT.
. The registrar general shall from time to time cause to be printed on parchment in black ink a sufficient number of certificates in the form contained in the first schedule to this Act and also of other certificates in red ink in the form contained in the second schedule to this Act which certificates shall be called " elector's rights" and shall be bound together in b.:10ks containing not less than one hundred and not more than two hundred in each book . • The registrar general shall cause a sufficient number of each kind of elector's rights to be numbered in a regular arithmetical series with a different number by printing· or stamping the same in ·blue ink in the body and also in the butt or counterfoil of each certificate and shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act and so often as it shall be needful transmit to the registrar of each province district and division so many of each kind of elector's rights both numbered and without any number as may be required by such registrars for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. . The registrars for the several provinces and districts and divisions shall on application issue to every male person who shall make satisfactory answers to the questions hereinafter set forth an elector's right and shall at the time of issuing the same enter in the butt or counterfoil the name occupation and residence of the person to whom the same shaH be issued and the date on which it shall be so issued and if the elector's right so issued shall be in respect of any other qualification than manhood shall enter the particulars of the same in the spaces left for that purpose in the body and butt or counterfoil of such certificate Provided :always that no elector's right shall be issued to any person who shall have previously taken out an elector's right in respect either of property or of manhood in the same district or who shall have previously taken out an eleetor'£ right in xespect of manhood in any district whatever. . . Every person applying for an elector's righJ,t shall before the same shall be delivered to him make satisfactory answers to the following questions which the registrar is hmoeby empowered and required to put to him 1. What is your name 2. Do you reside [or are you owner [or occupier of the property in respect of which you claim to vote J (as the case may be) in this [electoral district or J province 3. Are you of the full age of twenty-one years 4. Are you a natural born [or a naturalized] subject of the Queen 5. Have you taken out an elector's right on the ground of manhood in this or any other electoral district .of the eolony and any person who shall wilfully and knowingly make a false answer to mY. sliiDh .question so put to him by 1fue registrar shall be deemed to be gwlty of a misdemeanor and punishable accordingly . . If any elector's right shall be lost or become defaced after the same shall have been issued as aforesaid the registrars for the province ·4istriet or divlsion for which the same shall have been so issued shall upon apPlicatkm matle to him by the holder thereof and payment to him of the sum Gf two shillings . and sixpence ascertain the number of the elector's D.-No. 56. b.
6
right so lost or defaced and shall w1·ite the said number in the body and on the back of an unnumbered certificate taking the same from the black or red book according to the qualification of the applicant and shall fill up the same in the same manner as is hereinbefore directed with respect to an original elector's right and shall deliver the said certificate so numbered and filled up to the person applying for the same and the said registrar shall forthwith cancel the butt of the original elector's right on which the same number shall be printed by writing across the same the words " new certificate issued" and shall affix thereto his signature and the date on which such last mentioned certificate was issued Provided always that no such certificate shall be issued in the place of any elector's right alleged to have been so lost or defaced unless application shall be made to the registrar for the same five clear days at the least before the polling day for any election for the province or district on the roll of which the number of such elector's right shall for the time being be found. · • Every registrar shall on or before the first day of January in every year make out and sign a list of all persons whose names shall then be upon any electoral roll for the province district or division for which he may act or who not being upon any such roll shall have taken out an elector's right under this Act and shall on or before the first day of April the first day of July and the fil·st day of October in every year make out and sign a supplementary list of persons who shall have taken out elector's rights during the quarter last preceding such last mentioned days respectively arranging the said lists in alphabetical order in the form contained in the third schedule to this Act and shall transcribe the various particulars which shall appear in the books of elector's rights into the proper columns and sheets on or before the tenth days of the said months respectively and forthwith thereafter transmit such lists respectively other to the registrar general or to such other person as he may appoint for the purpose of being printed. . The registrar general or such other person as he may appoint shall forthwith upon the receipt of the said lists respectively cause the same to be printed and shall on or before the day of the day of the day of and the day of in every year transmit a sufficient number of copies of each list to the derk of that court of petty sessions by which such list is to be revised as hereinafter mentioned and upon the receipt of such copies the said clerk shall sign and publish the· same in the manner hereinafter directed and he a:nd such other person as may he appointed shall sell and deliver such copies to all persons applying for the same upon payment for each copy after the rate contained in the fourth schedule to this Act Provided always that no person shall be entitled to a copy of any part of any list relating to any province district or division without taking or paying for.the whole that relates to such province district or djvision. . The said clerk shall insert in the column appointed for that purpose the words "objected to" against the names of all persons against whom notice of objection shall have been given to him as aforesaid in a sufficient number of copies of the said list affixing his initials to the said words and shall on or before the day of the day of the day of and the day of sign and publish the same in the manner hereinafter directed. . Courts of petty sessions shall be held for the revision .of the ,electoral lists between the and days of the and days of and the and days of in every year when the supplementary lists for the quarter next preceding the holding of such courts respectively shall be revised _t\.nd likewise between the and days 9f in every
7 year at which the entire electoral list for the province district or division in or for .which such court is held shall be revised and every such court shall be an open court and may be adjourned from day to day during the period of fourteen days from the day when it first commenced to sit including such last mentioned day but ::>hall in no case be adjourned after the expirl:ltion of such period . . Immediately after any such list of voters shall have been revised as aforesaid the said clerk of petty sessions shall erase the word "list" from the title thereof and shall substitute for the same the word ''roll" and shall then cause to be written at the foot or end of such roll a certificate that the same has been revised and is correct and shaH then date and sign such certificate and forthwith transmit the said roll to the reg·istrar general and upon receipt of the several rolls the said registrar general shall cause the same to be arranged with every province and district respectively in alphabetical order and every division within any such province or district likewise in alphabetical order and shall prefix to every name in every roll a number bewnning the numbers from the first name in the roll of every province and district respectively and continuing them in a regular arithmetical series down to the ·last name in such roll and shall cause a sufficient number of copies of every roll with the numbers aforesaid to be printed and shall keep the roll of voters for every province and district respectively in his office until a new roll of voters for the same province or distdct shall be made out when the same may be destroyed and the said registrar general shall transmit without delay to every registrar or such other person as the registrar general may appoint a sufficient number of copies of the roll relating to the prpvincc district or division for which such registrars may act and the said registrar general and registrars shall sell and deliver such copies to all persons applying for the same on payment of a price for each copy after the rate contained in the schedule to this Act Provided always that no person shall be entitled to a copy of any roll relating to any province district or division without taking or paying for the whole that relates to such proviuce district or division . . No holder of an elector's right shall he entitled to vote for any province or district unless his name with the number of his elector's right affixed shall be upon the printed electoral roll for such proYince or district. . Any holder of an elector's right in respect of any qualification except that of property whose name may be upon the electoral roll of any other province district or division than that in which he is for the time being resident may apply to the registrar of the province district or divjsion in which he is so resident and the said registrar upon delivery to him of the said elector's right and upon receiving satisfactory ans1vers to the questions which it is hcreinbefore provided shall be put previously to the issue of an original elector's right and which the said registrar is hereby empowered to put write in ink npon the body and back of a black unnumbered certificate the number of such elector's right and shall fill up the same in the same manner as is hereinbcfore directed with respect to an original elector's right and shall deliver the said certificate so numbered and filled up to the person applying for the same and the said registrar shall forthwith cancel the elector's right so delivered up to him by writing across the same the words "new certificate issued'' and shall affix thereto his signature together 'vith the name of the province district or division for which he shall be registrar and the date ou which it was so delivered up and shall transmit the ~ame as soon as conveniently may he to the registrar of the province district or division in which the same shall have been issued and such last mentioned registrar shall file the same and cancel the butt belonging thereto by writing across the said butt "new
8
certificate issued by (A. B.) registrar of (name of province district or division)" with the date of the issue of such new certificate and shall affix his signature thereto . . The registrar general shall cause to be prepared a sufficient number of stamps with the names of the different provinces and districts engraven thereon and shall supply the returning ,officer for any province or district with so many stamps bearing the name of such province or district as may from time to time be required and such returning officer shall before any polling day for any election for his province or district provide every polling place with one such stamp with the date of the polling day inserted therein. . Every voter who shall be desirous of voting at any election shall present his elector's right to the returning officer at the polling place at which such voter is entitled to vote and the said officer shall thereupon compare such elector's right with the printed electoral roll and if the name and qualification appearing thereon be found to correspond with the name and qualification annexed to the number of such elector's right in the electoral roll and that such voter has not previously voted at such election shall deliver to such voter his voting paper and shall forthwith draw a line through his name and number on the roll and shall impress upon the face of the elector's right with the stamp provided for that purpose the day of the month and year in red colors if th~ vote be given at a general election and in black colors if the vote be given on any other election than a general election and shall redeliver the said elector's right to the voter.
THE FIRST SCHEDULE.
No. , 11 No. Name. I A.B. of is entitled to v:ote j),t any Residence. i election of a member or members of the Legislative Council (or Assembly) Qualification. i'l for the province (or district) of in respect of (natu1·e of qualification). Date of issue. i Date of issue of this certificate. THE SECOND SCHEDULE.
No. Name. Residence. Date of issue.
No. A.B. of is entitled to vote at any election of a member or members of the Legislative Assembly for the district of in respect of the qualification of manhood. Date of issue of this certificate;
PROCEEDINGS OF COMMITTEE.
THURSDAY, 6TH AUGUST, 1857. Members present :Mr. Haines, Mr. Humffray, Mr. Adamson, l'rlr. Sladen, Mr. Foster, Mr. Sitwell, Mr. Griffi.th, Mr. O'Shanassy, Dr. Owens. Mr. Haines was called to the Chair. Motion made-( l. )-That the present system of registration of voters under the existing Electoral Act does not give satisfaction, and an improved plau is necessary.-(1'lfr. 0' Shanassy.) Question-put and passed. :Motion made-(2.)-That any system of registration must be burthcnsome, complicated, and altogether inadequate as a means of regulating the right of voting.-(D1·. Otoens.) Question-put. · Committee divided. Noes, 7. Ayes, 1. Mr. O'Shanassy, Dr. Owens, Mr. Sitwell, Mr. Humffray, Mr. Sladen, Mr. Griffith, 1\'Ir. Adamson, Mr. Foster, !\'lotion made-(3.)-That in the opinion of this Committee continuous opportunities of registration should be afforded.-(J1i·. Humifray.) Discussion thereon. Mr. A damson moved as an amendment that the consideration of this resolution be postponed · .until next meeting. Question-put and passed. Adjourned to Wednesday next at twelve o'clock.
WEDNESDAY, 12TH AUGUST, 1857. Members present:Mr. Haines in the Chair ; Mr. O'Shanassy, Mr. Sladen, Mr. Gavan Duffy, Mr. Humffray, Dr. Owens. The minutes taken at the previous meeting were read by the clerk. Adjourned discussion upon the motion, ''That in the opinion of this Committee, continuous opportunities of registration should be afforded," resumed. Question-put and passed. Motion made-(4.)-That it is desirablc-~to issue parchment documents conveying the elector's right to every elector in Victoria.-(.Mr. 0' Sha11aSti!J.) Discussion thereon. Question-put. Committee divided. Noes, 1. Ayes, 4. Dr. Owens. Mr. O'Shanassy, Mr. Sladen, Mr. Gavan Duffy, 1\fr. Humft'ray. Motion made-(5.)-That the corresponding parts or butts should be kept by the registrars for the purpose of compiling the lists.-(Mr. 0' Shanaasy.) Question-put and passed. Motion made-(6.)-That any elector's right issued on account of any other qualification than manhood be printed in different colorcd ink.-( Mr. Dui!!J.) Question-put and passed. Motion made-(7 .)-That the original lists BO prepared be printed by the registrar; that supplemental lists be revised and added quarterly, and that provision be made for an annual incorporation and revision of the whole lists.-( Mr. 0' Shanaasy.) Discussion thereon. Question-put and passed. D.-No. 56. c.
10 Motion made-(8.)-That the right of transferring an elector's right, under proper regulations, from one electoral district to another be recognised.-Oif:r. 0' Shanasty.) Discussion thereon. Question-put and passed. Motion made-(9.)-Thl\t it shall be competent for a:n:y: p~:r;son having an elector's right and changing his resid'llnce to a new electoral district, to claim an elector's right in the new district, on handing to the registrar the "right" he already possesses.-(
