COUNCILS. of polling stations is to be as follows: -Where the PARISH number of parochial electors in the parish, or in any polling district, is not more than five hundred, one polling station for the parish or polling district; and so on for each additional five hundred parochial electors, or for any less number of electors over and above the last five hundred: Ibid. The returning officer is, subject to the above rule, to provide a sufficient number of polling stations, and to distribute them amongst the electors as he thinks most convenient: Schedule, rule 15. A returning officer at any election of parish councillors may use, free of charge, schools receiving a grant, and public rooms, for taking the poll, for hearing objections to nomination papers, and for counting the votes: 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 48 (3) (a). A separate room or separate booth may contain a separate polling station, or several polling stations may be constructed in the same room or booth: Schedule, rule 17. The returning officer is to furnish every polling station with such number of compartments in which the voters can mark their votes screened from observation, and to furnish each presiding officer with such number of ballot papers as may be necessary for effectually taking the poll at the election: rule 27. tions for poll. The returning officer is to provide each polling station Preparawith materials for voters to mark the ballot papers, with instruments for stamping thereon the official mark, and with copies of the register of voters, or such part thereof as contains the names of the voters allotted to vote at such station. He shall keep the official mark secret: Schedule, rule 20. It is to be noticed that in municipal elections the same mark must not be used again for the same place for seven years: see ante, p. 39. This prohibition has not been applied to parish council elections. Every ballot paper must contain a list of the candi PARISH COUNCILS. dates described as in their respective nomination papers, and arranged alphabetically in the order of their surnames, and (if there are two or more candidates with the same surname) of their other names; it is to be in the form given post, p. 592, or as near thereto as circumstances admit, and is to be capable of being folded up: Schedule, rule 22. Each ballot paper must have a number printed on the back, and have attached a counterfoil with the same number printed on the face: Schedule, section 2. The ballot papers used at the election of parish councillors must be of a different colour from that of any ballot papers used in the election of any rural district councillors held in the parish at the same date: rule 34 (3). The returning officer is also to provide such nomination papers, ballot boxes, and other things, appoint and pay such officers, and do such other acts and things as may be necessary for effectually conducting the election Schedule, section 8. No person is to be appointed by the returning officer for the purposes of an election who has been employed by any other person in or about the election: Schedule, rule 49. Every ballot box is to be so constructed that the ballot papers can be introduced therein, but cannot be withdrawn therefrom, without the box being unlocked: Schedule, rule 23. If an election of parish councillors and of any rural district councillors is held in the parish at the same date, one ballot-box may, if the returning officer thinks fit, be used for the two elections: rule 34 (2). Any ballot boxes, fittings, and compartments provided by or belonging to any public authority, for any election (whether parliamentary, county council, municipal, school board, or other), are, on request, and if not required for immediate use by such authority, to be lent to the returning officer upon such conditions and either free be pre of charge or for such reasonable charge as may PARISH COUNCILS. officer. The clerk to the guardians of the poor law union in Returning which the parish is situate is to be the returning officer: rule 19; see also 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 48 (2) (vi). If he is unwilling to act, or his office is vacant, or is from illness or other sufficient cause unable to perform such duty, the guardians must appoint some other person to act as returning officer or to perform such of the duties as then remain to be performed, but the same person is in all cases to be the returning officer at the election of the parish councillors and of any rural district councillors to be elected at the same date in the parish: rule 19 (2). The clerk to the guardians, or acting clerk, is, as early as practicable, to give notice to the overseers whether he will act as returning officer, or whether some other person has been appointed to act, and, if so, the name of such person: rule 19 (3). The returning officer is to appoint an office for the purposes of the election, and to give notice thereof to the overseers: rule 19 (4). The returning officer may, in writing, appoint a fit person to be his deputy for all or any of the purposes relating to the election, and shall appoint such a deputy in the case and for the purposes mentioned in rule 30, post, p. 565. A deputy returning officer is to have all the powers, duties, and liabilities of the returning officer in relation to the matters in respect of which he is appointed as deputy: rule 19 (5). The same person shall act as deputy returning officer in respect of the election both of parish councillors and of any rural district councillors to be elected at the same date in the parish: rule 19 (6). As to the duties and liabilities of a returning officer, see ante, p. 41. But an action against him under 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 75, can only be brought within three months: see post, p. 595. PARISH COUNCILS. Agents. Ward elections. Ordinary vacancies. Agents may be employed, but, with the exception of a polling agent, may not be paid: 47 & 48 Vict. c. 70, s. 13. And a polling agent, whether paid or unpaid, can only be appointed by any number of candidates being not less than one third of the whole number of candidates: rules 28 and 36 (4). The appointment must be in writing, and be delivered at the office of the returning officer not less than two clear days before the day of the poll: Ibid. Each candidate may appoint an agent to attend the counting of the votes: Schedule, rule 31. The name and address of such agent must be transmitted to the returning officer one clear day at least before the opening of the poll: Schedule, rule 52. If any person appointed an agent for the purposes of attending at a polling station or at the counting of the votes dies, or becomes incapable of acting during the time of the election, another agent may be appointed in his place, and notice should forthwith be given to the returning officer in writing of the name and address of any agent so appointed: Schedule, rule 53. As to the number of persons who may be employed for payment as clerks or messengers, see post, p. 190. Where a parish has been divided into wards by the county council under 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 18 (1), there is to be a separate election for each ward: Ibid., s. 18 (2). The above rules apply to each such ward as if it were a parish rule 40. If a parish is situate in more than one administrative county, it is for the purposes of this order to be deemed to be wholly situate in the county which, according to the census of 1891, contains the larger part of its population rule 39. RURAL DISTRICT COUNCILS. The chairman of a rural district council retires at the expiration of his year of office: the Local Government Act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 59 (1)), and the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55), s. 199, and Schedule I., Part I., rules 3 and 11, post, p. 725. RURAL DISTRICT The term of office of a rural district councillor is three years: 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, ss. 20 (6) and 24 (4). One COUNCILS. third of them go out of office on the 15th of April in each year (as to which third, see section 60), unless the county council, upon the application of the rural district council, consider it expedient to provide for their simultaneous retirement on the 15th of April in every third year: Ibid. None of the councillors first elected under this Act are to retire before the 15th of April, 1896. The third who are then to retire, as also in 1897, are to be determined by the county council: Ibid., s. 79 (3) and (4). Casual vacancies in the office of rural district coun- Casual cillor are caused by— Death. Non-acceptance of office: see Rural District Coun cillors Order, 1894, Schedule IV., s. 40 (3), and Resignation: Ibid., s. 48 (4) (a), and 5 & 6 Vict. c. 57, s. 11, which empowers the Local Government cause. Absence or disqualification: 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 46 (6) and (7); see ante, p. 48. Judgment of Election or High Court: Ibid., s. 48 (3); see ante, p. 49. A casual vacancy occurs in the office of chairman by his death, resignation, or by his becoming incapable of acting: 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55, Schedule I., Part I., rule 4; 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 59 (1). vacancies. vacancies. The chairman is appointed at the annual meeting Filling of which is to be held as soon as convenient after the 15th of April: Ibid., and 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55, s. 199, and Schedule I., Part I., rr. 3 and 11, post, p. 725. The meeting of the council is not to be held in premises licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquor except where no other suitable room is available: 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 61. As regards the filling of casual vacancies amongst |