Constitution of Local Marine Boards.

Elections.

Constitution of local marine board.

1. A local marine board shall consist of the following members; viz.,—

(a) The mayor or provost and the stipendiary magistrate, or such of the mayors or provosts and stipendiary magistrates of the place (if more than one) as the Board of Trade appoint:

(b) Four members appointed by the Board of Trade from among persons residing or having places of business at the port or within seven miles thereof:

(c) Six members elected by the owners of such foreign-going ships and home trade passenger ships as are registered at the port.

2. The election shall be held on the twenty-fifth day of January one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, and on the twenty-fifth day of January in every third succeeding year, and the appointments shall be made within one month after the elections.

3. Upon the conclusion of that month and the constitution of a new board, the functions of the then existing board shall cease, and the board, consisting of the members then newly elected and appointed, shall take its place.

4. A casual vacancy happening in the intervals between the general elections and appointments, by death, resignation, disqualification, or otherwise, shall be filled up within one month after it happens; and every person elected or appointed to fill a casual vacancy shall continue a member until the next constitution of the new board.

5. The mayor or provost shall fix the place and mode of conducting elections, and also, in the case of casual vacancies, the day of election, and shall give at least ten days notice thereof.

6. The Board of Trade may decide any question raised concerning any election.

Registry and Votes of Electors.

7. Owners of foreign-going ships and of home trade passenger ships registered at the port shall have votes at the election as follows; namely,—

Every registered owner of not less than 250 tons in the whole of such shipping shall at every election have one vote for each member for every 250 tons owned by him, so that his votes for any one member do not exceed ten.

8. The qualification of electors shall be ascertained as follows:—

(a) In the case of a ship registered in the name of one person that person shall be deemed the owner:

(b) In the case of a ship registered in distinct and several shares in the names of more persons than one the tonnage shall be apportioned among them as nearly as may be in proportion to their respective shares, and each of them shall be deemed the owner of the tonnage so apportioned to him:

(c) In the case of a ship or shares of a ship registered jointly without severance of interest in the names of more persons than one the tonnage shall, if sufficient either alone or together with other tonnage, if any, owned by the joint owners, to give a qualification to each of them, be apportioned equally between or among the joint owners, and each of them shall be deemed the owner of the equal share so apportioned to him; but if it is not so sufficient the whole of the tonnage shall be deemed to be owned by such one of the joint owners resident or having a place of business at the port or within seven miles thereof as is first named on the register:

(d) In making any such apportionment any portion of the tonnage may be struck off so as to produce a divisible amount:

(e) The whole amount of tonnage so owned by each person, whether in ships or shares of or interests in ships, shall be added together, and if sufficient, shall constitute his qualification.

9. The chief officer of customs in the port shall, with the assistance of the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen, on or before the twenty-fifth day of December in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, and in every third succeeding year, make out an alphabetical list of the persons entitled by this Act to vote at the election, containing the name and residence of each such person, and the number of votes to which he is entitled, and shall sign the list, and shall cause a sufficient number of copies thereof to be printed, and shall cause copies thereof to be fixed on or near the doors of the custom house of the port for two entire weeks next after the list has been made, and shall keep two copies of the list, and permit the same to be perused by any person, without payment, at all reasonable hours during those two weeks.

10. The mayor or provost of the port, or such of them, if more than one, as is or are for the time being so appointed as aforesaid, shall, at least twenty days before the twenty-fifth day of January one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, and in each succeeding third year, nominate two justices of the peace (in this schedule referred to as the revisors) to revise the list.

11. The revisors shall, between the eighth and fifteenth days of January, both inclusive, in the year in which they are so nominated, revise the list at the custom house of the port, or in some convenient place near thereto, to be hired, if necessary, by the said chief officer.

12. The revisors shall give three clear days notice of the revision by advertising the same in some local newspaper, and by affixing a notice thereof on or near to the doors of the custom house.

13. The revisors shall make the revision by inserting in the list the name of every person who claims to have his name inserted therein and gives proof, satisfactory to the revisors, of his right to have his name so inserted, and by striking out therefrom the name of every person to the insertion of whose name an objection is made by any other person named in the list who gives proof satisfactory to the revisors that the name objected to ought not to have been inserted therein.

14. The decision of the revisors with respect to every such claim or objection shall be conclusive.

15. The revisors shall, immediately after the revision, sign their names at the foot of the list so revised.

16. The list so revised shall be the register of voters at elections for three years from the twenty-fifth day of January then next ensuing inclusive to the twenty-fourth day of January inclusive in the third succeeding year.

17. The revised list, when so signed, shall be delivered to the mayor or provost as aforesaid, who shall, if necessary, cause a sufficient number of copies thereof to be printed, and shall cause a copy thereof to be delivered to every voter applying for the same.

18. The chief officer shall, if required, for the assistance of the revisors in revising the list, produce to them the books containing the register of ships registered at the port; and the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen, if required, shall also produce or transmit to them such certified extracts or returns from the books in his custody as may be necessary for the same purpose.

19. The revisors shall certify the expenses properly incurred by the chief officer in making and printing the list and in the revision thereof, and the Board of Trade shall pay the same, and also all expenses properly incurred by the mayor or provost in printing the same, or in any election; and the Board of Trade may disallow any items of any of those expenses in their opinion improperly incurred.

20. Every person whose name appears on the revised list and no other person, shall be qualified to vote at the election on the twenty-fifth day of January next after the revision, and at any election for a casual vacancy held at any time between that day and the next ordinary triennial election.

Qualification of Members.

21. Every male person who is, according to the revised list, entitled to a vote, shall be qualified to be elected a member, and no other person shall be so qualified; and if any person elected ceases after election to be an owner of such quantity of tonnage as would entitle him to a vote he shall no longer continue to act or be considered a member, and thereupon another member shall be elected in his place.

Application to Corporations.

22. A corporation owning a ship shall be entitled to be registered in like manner as any individual, with the substitution of the office of the corporation for the residence of the individual. The vote of such corporation shall be given by some person whom the corporation may appoint in that behalf, and that person shall be qualified to be elected a member, and if the corporation ceases after his election to be an owner of such quantity of tonnage as entitles the corporation to be registered as a voter, that person shall cease to be a member and another member shall be elected in his place.