Union as Re with such parties, and request them to name a CIRCULARS. place within the division or ward, and point out Instructions to them that otherwise they can only vote in manner to Clerk of provided in Article 29 of the Election Regulations; turning and you should apprize the parties concerned as 16th January, above of the substance of the regulation contained 1863. in that Article. 19. A practice appears to have been adopted by the Returning Officer in some instances, of marking on each of the voting papers, in addition to the number directed by Article 19 of the Election Regulations, the name of the person for whom it is issued, or his name and address; and in the case of a proxy, the name of the proxy, as well as that of the person for whom he is proxy. The Commissioners think it right to point out, that the Returning Officer is not required by the regulations to indorse the name of any party on the voting paper, and the practice has been found in some instances to lead to error. It seems advisable, therefore, that the Returning Officer should not, in this respect, do more than he is required to do by the 19th Article of the Election Order, viz. to prepare lists containing the number of each paper, and the name of the place at which it is to be left, and to indorse each paper with its proper number corresponding to that in the list. 20. The Returning Officer should take care to make himself well acquainted with the regulations contained in the General Order before the election commences. With a view to general convenience and economy, the business of the election is to be transacted, as far as possible, at the Board-room of the Guardians, and within the hours of ten and five o'clock in the day. The Returning Officer is to attend daily (except on Sundays,) at the place appointed, from the date for the issue of the notice, to the last day for receiving nomination papers, inclusive, to afford information to persons requir ing it; and likewise during the period from the first day for the collection of voting papers, until the examination of the votes and the return of Officer: Union as Re turning Officer: 16th January, 1863. CIRCULARS. the Guardians elected shall have been completed Instructions (see Articles 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, and 36); and also to Clerk of at all such other times during the progress of the election, as may be necessary for the due performance of his duties, as directed in Article 32. In reference to the examination and casting up of the votes (Article 34,) the Commissioners are not prepared to deprive the Returning Officer of a discretion in regard to the admission or exclusion of strangers, inasmuch as the exercise of such a discretion may, on some occasions, be necessary to the proper discharge of his duty; but on the other hand the Commissioners think that if the Returning Officer excludes from the examination of the voting papers for a particular electoral division either the candidates for that electoral division or those who proposed them, he should be prepared to show some urgent reason for a step which, generally speaking, would seem to be unnecessary and unreasonable; but the Commissioners do not think it desirable that the privilege of being present during the examination of the votes should be extended to rate-payers generally. 21. Your special attention is requested to your duties as Clerk of the Union under the regulations contained in Articles 37 & 38 of the General Order. Under the former of those Articles you are, immediately on the return of the new election of Guardians being completed, to transmit to each member of the Board of Guardians for the previous year, including ex-officio Guardians and out-going Guardians, as well as any who may be re-elected, a notice in the Form L, apprizing them of the names of the several Guardians elected for the ensuing year. The object of this regulation being chiefly to obviate the inconvenience of any Guardian attending at any meeting of the Board after his year of office has expired, you should take care that this notice is transmitted without any delay, on the completion of the return. Under Article 38, you are likewise to transmit to every Guardian elected for the ensuing year, whether previously a Guardian or not, a notice in the Form to Clerk of Officer: marked M in the General Order, and to every CIRCULARS. Guardian who may continue in office, under the Instructions 24th section of the 25 and 26 Vic., c. 83, in conse- Union as Rcquence of no nomination having been made for turning the electoral division, a notice, in the Form marked 16th January, N in that Order. Under the 20th section of the 1863. Irish Poor Relief Act, 1 & 2 Vic., c. 56, the annual election of the Guardians is to be completed on the 25th March, or if that day should fall on Sunday or Good Friday, then on the day next following, or within fourteen days next after such 25th day of March; and the section further declares that "immediately upon their election, the Guardians previously elected by the Ratepayers of any union shall go out of office." You should therefore issue the notices L, M, and N, according to the regulations, immediately on the return being made, so that the first meeting thereafter may consist of the members of the new Board, in accordance with the Act. The issue of these notices is not to be delayed until a meeting of the Board of Guardians shall have been held, but a certified copy of the return is to be laid before the Board at the first meeting after such return is made. The Commissioners take this opportunity of again calling your attention to the several changes which have been made in the law relating to the election of Guardians by the Act 25 & 26 Vic., c. 83. Those changes are described in the Commissioners' Circular Letter of the 11th OctoLer last, a copy of which is enclosed. 22. Immediately on the close of the election, an account of the expenses of the same is to be transmitted to the Commissioners, for examination and sanction, in a Form which will be forwarded to for the purpose. you CIRCULARS. CIRCULAR relating to the changes in the law in regard to the election of Guardians made by the Act 25 & 26 Vic., c. 83-referred to in preceding Circular. Changes in the Law relating to the Election Guardians. SIR, Poor Law Commission Office, Dublin, 11th October, 1862. The Commissioners for administering the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland desire to draw your attention to those provisions of the recent Poor Law Amendment Act (25 and 26 Vic., c. 83), which relate to the election of Guardians and to the qualification for the office of Guardian : Section 15 requires that the statements to be given by persons claiming to vote in respect of property not in their actual occupation, or to give additional votes in respect of beneficial interest in respect of property occupied by them, shall contain more precise and definite information regarding the property than has hitherto been required. The statement must comprise the following particulars :— 1. The name and address of the Rate-payer. 2. The description and local situation of the property, specifying-in cities, towns, and their suburbs, having streets and other roadways-the name of the strect or roadway, and the number of the house or tenement, if any, and the parish in which the property is situate; and, in other places, the barony, parish, and townland. 3. The nature of the Rate-payer's interest in the property. 4. Its net annual value over and above all rents payable by him. 5. The amount of rent payable to him. 6. The names of the tenants or occupiers by whom poor rates have been deducted from such rent. Every claim to vote, whether by the Rate-payer or his proxy, must be executed in the presence of a Justice of the Peace. The Commissioners have caused the existing forms of claim to be revised in accordance with these provisions; and they enclose copies of the revised Forms (A 1, A 2, and B 1 and 2), for your lating to the information. The Commissioners have to observe, CIRCULARS. however, that the use of these forms is not com- Changes in pulsory upon the parties making statements, and the Law rethat any form which contains all the particulars Election of required by the Act of Parliament will be sufficient. By the 16th section of the Act it is provided that no claim to vote either in person or by proxy shall continue in force beyond the period of five years from the date on which the statement has been given; and further, that no person shall be entitled to vote as proxy for more than twenty owners in any one electoral division or ward, unless he be a steward, bailiff, land agent, or collector of rents for the owners of property for whom he may be appointed to vote. The 17th section enables owners or immediate lessors of property, who are rated under the 1st and 4th sections of the 6th and 7th Vic., c. 92, the 63rd section of the 12th & 13th Vic., c. 91 (which relates only to the city of Dublin), and the 10th section of the 12th and 13th Vic., c. 104, to vote in person or by proxy "in the same manner as occupiers paying no rent, or paying rent less than the net annual value of the rateable property," provided that every such owner, or immediate lessor, or his proxy, shall have lodged a statement, in the manner provided, with reference to persons claiming to vote in respect of property not in their actual occupation. It appears to the Commissioners that it will be the most convenient course to keep claims to vote under this section distinct from other claims to vote; and they have accordingly prepared separate Forms (C 1 and C 1 and 2) applicable to this class of cases, copies of which are herewith enclosed. Section 18 provides that no person shall be entitled to vote in respect of rent received, for any greater amount of rent than the annual value of the property out of which the claim arises, according to the valuation in force for the time being. It will be necessary, therefore, for the Guardians. |