The Polling Places for the following Districts in the Province of Otago, viz. :—

1.	The Town of Dunedin,
2.	The Dunedin Country District,

shall be at some convenient place or places in the Town of Dunedin or in the Dunedin Country District to be specified by the Returning Officer.

36. If additional Polling Places are found necessary for any of the Districts in the above mentioned Provinces, they shall page 119 be at such places as the Governor, or the Superintendent of the Province may, from time to time, by public notice, appoint.

37. The Principal Returning Officer of the Capital Town of each Province shall be the Resident Magistrate of the District in which such Capital Town is situated, or such other person as the Governor may from time to time appoint.

The Returning Officers for the above mentioned Electoral Districts in the Islands of New Zealand, and situated respectively in the Provinces above named, shall be the Resident Magistrate residing in the District, or such other person as the Governor, or the person deputed by him in that behalf, may from time to time appoint.

38. The Writs for the Election of the Superintendents of Provinces, of the Members of the House of Representatives, and of the Members of the Provincial Councils, shall be issued by the Governor under his hand, and shall be directed to the Returning Officer for the District, and shall state the number of days within which such Writs shall be made returnable to the said Governor.

39. Whenever it shall be established to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of any one of the Provinces as aforesaid, that the seat of any Member of the Provincial Council of such Province has become vacant, the Superintendent shall forthwith issue a Writ for the Election of a new Member to serve in the place so vacated during the remainder of the term of the continuance of such Council, and no longer.

40. The Returning Officer shall endorse on the Writ the day on which he may have received it, and shall fix the day of Nomination, and also the day on which the voting, if necessary, shall take place, and shall give not less than Fourteen days' Public Notice thereof respectively.

41. On the day of Nomination so to be fixed as aforesaid, the Returning Officer shall preside at a meeting to be holden at noon, at the chief Polling Place for the District, and shall declare the purpose for which such meeting is held : And if at such meeting there be no more candidates proposed than the number of Members to be returned, the Returning Officer shall declare such Candidate or Candidates to be duly elected, and shall make his return accordingly.

42. In the event of there being more Candidates than the number to be elected, the Returning Officer shall call for a show of hands separately in favour of each Candidate, and after such shew of hands, shall declare the person or persons on whom the Election has fallen, and shall return the same accordingly, unless a Poll be demanded by some one of the Candidates, or by not less than six Electors on his behalf.

43. On such demand as aforesaid being made for a Poll, the Polling shall be taken on the day so to be fixed as aforesaid, the voting to commence at any time after nine o'clock of the said day, and to close at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day.

44. The Polling shall take place before the Returning Officer or his Deputy, and the voting shall be conducted in the manner following, that is to say,—

45. Every Elector for the District may vote for any number of persons not exceeding the number of persons then to be chosen, by delivering to the Returning Officer or his Deputy a Voting Paper containing the Christian names and Surnames of the persons for whom he votes, together with their place of abode and description, and signed with the name of the Elector so voting, and setting forth his own place of abode and description.

46. No enquiry shall be permitted at any such Election as to the right of any person to vote except only as follows : that is to say, the Returning Officer or his deputy shall, if required by any two Electors for the District, put to any voter at the time of his delivering in of his Voting Paper, and not afterwards, the following questions, and no others :—

1.	Are you the person whose name is signed as (A.B.) to the Voting Paper now delivered in by you
2.	Are you the person whose name appears as (A.B.) on the Electoral Roll now in force for the District of ()
3.	Have you already voted at the present Election

And no person required to answer any of the said questions shall be permitted or qualified to vote until he shall have answered the same, the first two affirmatively, and the last negatively.

47. As soon as conveniently may be after the Election of Members of the House of Representatives, and of Members of the Provincial Council, shall have been held, the Returning page 121 Officer for the District shall, at the place of nomination, openly declare the state of the Poll, and shall at the same time declare the name or names of the person or persons who may have been duly elected at such election. And in the event of the number of votes being found to have been equal for any two or more Candidates, he shall by his casting vote declare which of the said Candidates shall be elected : Provided that no Returning Officer shall vote at any Election of which be is the Returning Officer, except in the case of an equality of votes as aforesaid.

48. The name or names of the person or persons so elected as Member of a Provincial Council, or as Member of the House of Representatives, shall be inserted in or endorsed upon the Writ by the Returning Officer; and such Writ shall be returned by him to the Governor or to the Superintendent, in the case of an Election to supply a vacancy in the Provincial Council within the time by which such Writ may be returnable.

49. As soon as conveniently may be after the voting for the Election of a Superintendent of a Province has closed in any Electoral District, the Returning Officer of such District shall openly declare the state of the Poll, and shall, as soon as conveniently may be, transmit a certified copy of the same to the Principal Returning Officer of the Capital Town of the Province for which such Election may have taken place; and such Principal Returning Officer, so soon as he has received from the several Returning Officers of each Electoral District in the Province certified copies of the state of the Poll in each District, shall openly declare and publicly notify the same; and shall at the same time openly declare and publicly notify the name of the person who may have been duly elected at such Election, by a majority of the voters of the whole Province, to be Superintendent thereof : And, in the event of the number of votes being found to have been equal for any two or more Candidates, such Principal Returning Officer shall, by his casting vote, declare which of the said Candidates shall be elected; provided that such Principal Returning Officer shall not vote at the Election for the Superintendent of the Province of which he is Principal Returning Officer, except in the case of an equality of votes as aforesaid.

50. The Returning Officer for each Electoral District, at the Election for the office of Superintendent, shall insert in or endorse upon the Writ the state of the Poll when the voting n the District closed; and such Writ shall then be returned page 122 by him to the Governor within the time by which such Writ may be returnable.

51. The Voting Tapers, at such Election, shall be kept, for the space of six calendar months after such Election, by the Returning Officer, who shall permit any Elector to inspect the same upon payment of one shilling.

52. In case any Writ to be issued by the Governor, or by any Superintendent, for supplying a vacancy shall not be duly executed, or in case no valid Election shall be made by virtue thereof, the Governor or Superintendent, as the case may be, shall issue a new Writ, directing the Returning Officer to proceed to a Public Election, in manner and subject to the provisions hereinbefore prescribed.

53. All complaints of the undue return of Superintendents of Provinces shall be addressed in the form of Petition to the Governor of New Zealand, stating the general objections. But no such Petition shall be noticed, nor any proceedings taken thereon, unless it be signed by some person who was a Candidate at the Election whereof it may be alleged that an undue Return was made, or by a number of persons who voted, or were qualified to have voted at the said Election, amounting to not less than one-twentieth of the whole number on the List of Electors; and no such Petition shall be noticed which shall not be delivered to the Principal Returning Officer of the Capital Town of the Province, for immediate transmission to the Governor, within fourteen days from the day of Election; nor unless a copy thereof shall have been served upon the party whose Return shall be objected to within such period of fourteen days as aforesaid.

54. All complaints of the undue Return of Members to serve in the House of Representatives shall be addressed in the form of Petition to the Governor, stating the ground of objection. But no Petition shall be noticed, nor any proceedings had thereon, unless it be signed by some person who was a Candidate at the Election whereof it may be alleged that an undue Return was made, or by a number of persons who voted, or who were qualified to have voted at the said Election, amounting to not less than one-twentieth of the whole number on the List of Electors; and no such Petition shall be noticed which shall not be delivered to the Returning Officer of the District, for immediate transmission to the Governor, within twenty-one days from the day of Election; nor unless a copy thereof shall have been served upon the party whose Return page 123 shall be objected to within such period of twenty-one days as aforesaid. Within ten days after any such Petition shall have been received at the Office of the Civil Secretary from the Returning Officer, if the General Assembly be then sitting, or if the Assembly be not then sitting, within ten days after its next meeting, the Governor, or some other person duly authorised by him in that behalf, shall cause such Petition to be referred to the said General Assembly, and the validity of the Return so complained of shall be decided by such General Assembly, or by such other tribunal and in such manner as the said Assembly shall direct and appoint.

55. All complaints of the undue return of Members to serve in the Provincial Councils shall be addressed in the form of Petition to the Superintendent of the Province, stating the ground of objection. But no Petition shall be noticed, nor any proceedings had thereon, unless it be signed by some person who was a Candidate at the Election whereof it may be alleged that an undue return was made, or by a number of persons why voted, or who were qualified to have voted at the said Election, amounting to not less than one-twentieth of the whole number on the List of Electors. And no such Petition shall be noticed which shall not be delivered to the Returning Officer of the District, for immediate transmission to the Superintendent of the Province, within twenty-one days from the day of Election; nor unless a copy thereof shall have been served upon the party whose return shall be objected to within such period of twenty-one days as aforesaid. Within ten days after any such Petition shall have been received by the Superintendent from the Returning Officer, if the said Council be then sitting, or if the Council be not then sitting, within ten days after its next meeting the Superintendent, or some other person duly authorised by him in that behalf, shall cause such Petition to be referred to the said Council, and the validity of the Return so complained of shall be decided by such Council, or by such other tribunal and in such manner as the said Council shall direct and appoint.

56. And I hereby Further Proclaim and Declare, That Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Lyttelton, and Dunedin, shall be deemed and taken to be Towns for the purposes of this Proclamation : And I hereby Further Proclaim and Declare, That, for the purposes of this Proclamation, the Town of Auckland shall be deemed and taken to be the Capital Town of the Province of Auckland; the Town of New Plymouth to be the Capital Town of the Province of New Plymouth; the Town of Wellington to be the Capital page 124 Town of the Province of Wellington; the Town of Nelson to be the Capital Town of the Province of Nelson; the Town of Christchurch to be the Capital Town of the Province of Canterbury; and the Town of Dunedin to be the Capital Town of the Province of Otago.

Given under my hand, and issued under the Public Seal of the Islands of New Zealand, at Government-House, (L. S.) at Wellington, in the Province of Wellington, in the Islands aforesaid, this Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.