Powers of Presiding Officer and Administration of Oaths, dc. X. For the purpose of the adjournment of the poll, and of every other enactment relating to the poll, a presiding officer shall have the power by law belonging to a deputy returning officer; and any presiding officer and any clerk appointed by the returning officer to attend at a polling station shall have the power of asking the questions and administering the oath authorised by law to be asked of and administered to voters, and any justice of the peace and any returning officer may take and receive any declaration authorised by this Act to be taken before him.

Liability of Officers for misconduct.

XI. Every returning officer, presiding officer, and clerk who is guilty of any wilful misfeasance or any wilful act or omission in contravention of this Act shall, in addition to any other penalty or liability to which he may be subject, forfeit to any person aggrieved by such misfeasance, act, or omission a penal sum not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Section fifty of the Representation of the People Act, 1867, (which relates to the acting of any returning officer, or his partner or clerk, as agent for a candidate,) shall apply to any returning officer or officer appointed by him in pursuance of this Act, and to his partner or clerk.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Prohibition of Disclosure of Vote.

XII. No person who has voted at an election shall, in any legal proceeding to question the election or return, be required to state for whom he has voted.

Non-compliance with Rules.

XIII. No election shall be declared invalid by reason of a non-compliance with the rules contained in the First Schedule to this Act, or any mistake in the use of the forms in the Second Schedule to this Act, if it appears to the tribunal having cognizance of the question that the election was conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the body of this Act, and that such non-compliance or mistake did not affect the result of the election.

Use of municipal Ballot boxes, &c. for Parliamentary Election, and

vice versa.

XIV. Where a parliamentary borough and municipal borough occupy the whole or any part of the same area, any ballot boxes or fittings for polling stations and compartments provided for such parliamentary borough or such municipal borough may be used in any municipal or parliamentary election in such borough free of charge, and any damage other than reasonable wear and tear caused to the same shall be paid as part of the expenses of the election at which they are so used.

Construction of Act.

XV. This part of this Act shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, be construed as one with the enactments for the time being

in force, relating to the representation of the people, and to the registration of persons entitled to vote at the election of members to serve in Parliament, and with any enactments otherwise relating to the subject matter of this part of this Act, and terms used in this part of this Act shall have the same meaning as in the said enactments; and in construing the said enactments relating to an election or to the poll or taking the votes by poll, the mode of election and of taking the poll established by this Act shall for the purposes of the said enactments be deemed to be substituted for the mode of election or poll, or taking the votes by poll. referred to in the said enactments; and any person applying for a ballot paper under this Act shall be deemed to tender his vote," or "to assume to vote," within the meaning of the said enactments; and any application for a ballot paper under this Act, or expressions relative thereto, shall be equivalent to "voting" in the said enactments and any expressions relative thereto; and the term "polling booth" as used in the said enactments shall be deemed to include a polling station; and the term "proclamation" as used in the said enactments shall be deemed to include a public notice given in pursuance of this Act.

APPLICATION OF PART OF ACT TO SCOTLAND.

Alterations for Application of Part I. to Scotland.

XVI. This part of this Act shall apply to Scotland, subject to the following provisions:

(1.) The expression "crime and offence" shall be equivalent to the expression "misdemeanor," and shall be substituted therefore :

(2.) All offences under this Act for which any person may be punished on summary conviction shall be prosecuted before the sheriff under the provisions of "The Summary Procedure Act, 1864;" and all jurisdictions, powers and authorities necessary for that purpose are hereby conferred on sheriffs:

(3.) The expression "sheriff" shall include sheriff substitute: (4.) The provisions of this Act relating to the division of counties and boroughs into polling districts shall not apply to Scotland. (5.) The ballot boxes, ballot papers, stamping instruments, and other requisites for a parliamentary election shall be provided and paid for in the same manner as polling rooms or booths under the fortieth section of the Act, of the second and third years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter sixty-five, intituled "An Act to amend the Representation of the People in Scotland;" and the reasonable remuneration of presiding officers, assistants, and clerks employed by the returning officer at such an election, and all other expenses properly incurred by the returning officer, and by sheriff clerks, and town clerks, in carrying into effect the provisions of this Act, shall be paid by the candidates; provided always, that if any person shall be proposed as a candidate without his consent the person so proposing him shall be liable to defray his share of all those expenses in like manner as if he had

been a candidate himself; provided also, that the fee to be paid to each presiding officer shall in no case exceed the sum of three guineas per day, and the fee to be paid to each assistant to the returning officer shall not exceed two guineas per day, and the fee to be paid to each clerk shall not exceed one guinea per day.

APPLICATION OF PART OF ACT TO IReland.

Alterations for Application of Part I. to Ireland.

XVII. This part of this Act shall apply to Ireland, subject to the following modifications:

(1.) The expression "Clerk of the Crown in Chancery" shall mean the Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper in Ireland:

(2.) The preceding provisions of this part of this Act with respect to the division of counties and boroughs into polling districts shall not extend to Ireland:

(3.) In the construction of the preceding provisions of this part of this Act as applying to Ireland, section thirteen of "The "Representation of the People (Ireland) Act, 1868," shall be substituted for section fifty of "The Representation of the "People Act, 1867," wherever in such provisions the said lastmentioned section occurs. The provision contained in the sixth section of this Act providing for the use of school rooms free of charge, for the purpose of taking the poll at elections, shall not apply to any school adjoining or adjacent to any church or other place of worship, nor to any school connected with a nunnery or other religious establishment:

(4.) No returning officer shall be entitled to claim, or be paid, any sum or sums of money for the erection of polling booths or stations and compartments other than the sum or sums actually and necessarily incurred and paid by him in reference to the same, any statute or statutes to the contrary now in force notwithstanding, nor shall the expenses of providing sufficient polling stations or booths and compartments at every polling place exceed the sum or sums now given and allowed by statute in Ireland.

Provisions as to Polling districts and Polling places in Ireland. XVIII. With respect to polling districts and polling places in Ireland, the following regulations shall have effect; that is to say,

(1.) The Lord Lieutenant, by and with the advice of the Privy Council in Ireland, shall appoint special sessions to be held by the chairman of quarter sessions and justices of the peace having jurisdiction in each county or riding of a county in Ireland, at such places and times before the first day of November next after the passing of this Act as shall seem fit for the purpose of dividing such county or riding into polling districts and appointing polling places for such districts: (2.) The clerk of the said Privy Council shall cause each such

appointment to be notified to the clerk of the peace of the county to which the same relates, and shall cause notice of the same to be published twice in each of two consecutive weeks in one or more newspapers usually circulated in such county, and once in the Dublin Gazette:

(3.) The clerk of the peace of each county in Ireland shall, within five days after the receipt of such notification as aforesaid, send a written or printed notice of the same to the chairman and to every justice of the peace having jurisdiction within the county or riding to which the same relates:

(4.) The chairman of quarter sessions and the justices of the peace having jurisdiction in any county or riding assembled at such special sessions appointed in manner aforesaid, or at any adjournment of the same before the first day of December next after the passing of this Act, shall make an order dividing such county or riding of a county into polling districts, and appointing in each such polling district a place (in this section referred to as a "polling place") for taking the poll at contested elections of members to serve in Parliament for such county:

(5.) Every such division shall be made in such manner so that, as far as practicable, every building or place in such county in which petty sessions are at the time of the passing of this Act held shall be a polling place: Provided always, that where it appears to the chairman and justices assembled at special sessions that, for the purpose of affording full facilities for taking the poll at contested elections, there should be polling places in addition to such buildings or places where petty sessions are held as aforesaid, they shall appoint so many polling places in addition to such buildings or places as they may think necessary, and constitute a polling district for each such polling place : (6.) Every such order shall specify the barony or baronies, half barony or half baronies, townland or townlands, parish or parishes, and places constituting each such polling district:

(7.) A copy of every such order shall forthwith be sent by the clerk of the peace for such county to the clerk of the said Privy Council, who thereupon shall submit the same for confirmation by the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council in Ireland, in the manner by this Act provided, and such order shall not be of any validity until the same has been so confirmed:

(8.) Notice of the intended confirmation of any such order shall be given by the clerk of the said Privy Council at least one month before the day fixed for such confirmation by the publication of such notice and order in one or more newspapers circulating within such county or riding to which the order has reference: (9.) It shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, on the day fixed for the intended confirmation of any such order, to confirm the same as it stands, or with such variation, alteration, or modification as may seem fit: Provided always, that where any person is dissatisfied with any such order it shall be lawful for sucb person, within fourteen days after the

publication of the notice of the intended confirmation of such order, to appeal against the same, and such appeal shall be in writing, stating the grounds thereof, and shall be signed by such person, and shall within such time be lodged with the clerk of the Privy Council; and it shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, previous to the confirmation of any such order, to hear and determine such appeal against the same, and to make such order as to the costs of such appeal as may seem meet:

(10.) When any such order has been confirmed as aforesaid, the clerk of the said Privy Council shall transmit a copy of the same to the clerk of the peace of the county to which the same relates, and shall cause the same to be published once in the Dublin Gazette, and once in the newspaper in which the notice of intended confirmation was published:

(11.) The provisions of the Act of the session of the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter twenty-two, for ascertaining the voters in the new or altered polling districts referred to in the ninth section of the said Act, and for making separate lists of voters, and otherwise in relation thereto, shall extend and apply to every case in which any order in relation to any county has been confirmed under the authority of this section, in like manner as if such sections were herein re-enacted, and the polling districts to which the same refer or apply had been polling districts constituted under the authority of this section; and the register of voters in force in such county at the time of confirming such order as amended by the printed books given into the custody of the sheriff of such county in manner by the said Act provided, and the said printed books, shall be the register of persons entitled to vote at any election of a member or members to serve in Parliament which shall take place in and for such county until the first day of January next after the giving of the said books as aforesaid: Provided always, that in the construction of the said provisions, the terms "the passing of this Act" and the " said Act" shall respectively be construed to mean the confirming of any order made under the authority of this section and this Act:

(12.) At any election of a member or members to serve in Parliament for any county to which any such order relates held after the confirming of any such order, and before the register of voters to be formed subsequently to the date of the confirming of such order under the provisions of this section shall be in force, the poll shall be taken as if no such order had been made: (13.) All precepts, notices, and forms relating to the registration of voters shall be framed and expressed in such manner and form as may be necessary for the carrying the provisions of this Act into effect:

(14.) When the chairman of quarter sessions and justices of the peace having jurisdiction in any county or riding in Ireland, assembled at any general or quarter sessions in any division of