| 3. | Grant of licenses subject to vote of electors. No license of any description shall be granted or renewed until the electors of the district have previously determined, in manner hereinafter provided,—
| (1). | Whether the number of licenses existing in the district is to continue; |
| (2). | Whether the number of licenses existing in the district is to be reduced; |
| (3). | Whether no licenses are to be granted in the district. |
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| 4. | Poll to be taken on day of general election. On the day appointed for the taking of the poll (hereinafter called "the electoral poll") of the electors in each electoral district for the return of a member of the House of Representatives for such district, at every general election after the commencement of this Act, and simultaneously therewith, a poll (hereinafter called "the licensing poll") of the electors of such district shall also be taken upon the proposals to be submitted to them under this Act: Provided that—
| (1). | The licensing poll shall be taken in every district, notwithstanding that in any district no electoral poll may be required to be taken for such election as aforesaid; and also that |
| (2). | If at any time Parliament is dissolved before it has been two years in existence, then at the taking of the electoral poll for the new Parliament no licensing poll shall be taken, but the result of the licensing poll taken at the then last previous general election shall continue in force until such poll is again taken simultaneously with the electoral poll next after the dissolution of such new Parliament. |
| (3). | No poll shall be valid in any district in which no electoral poll is taken unless at least one-half of the total number of electors on the roll of the district shall have recorded their votes. |
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| 5. | Questions to be submitted to poll. At every licensing poll the questions set forth in section three hereof shall be submitted in the form of the proposals set forth in the First Schedule hereto. |
| 6. | Number of proposals to be voted on. Each voter shall be entitled to vote on any one or two of the proposals, and the voting shall not be cumulative. |
| 7. |
| (1). | Provisions subject to which poll to be taken. The poll shall be taken as follows:—
| (a.) | The Returning Officer of the electoral district shall, upon the day appointed, proceed to take the licensing poll in the manner provided by "The Electoral Act, 1893," for taking the electoral poll, and shall provide voting-papers and all things necessary for taking the licensing poll. |
| (b.) | He shall also provide separate ballot-boxes for the licensing poll and the electoral poll, and each class of ballot-box shall be painted of a different colour, or otherwise have sufficiently distinguishing marks to prevent mistakes. |
| (c.) | All mistakes made by depositing ballot-papers and voting-papers in the wrong boxes shall be corrected by the Returning Officer when counting the papers, and all the papers shall be duly included in the counting. |
| (d.) | He shall also appoint a Deputy Returning Officer and a sufficient number of poll-clerks for the sole purpose of attending to the business of taking the licensing poll. |
| (e.) | The voting-papers for the licensing poll shall be different in colour to the ballot-papers for the electoral poll. |
| (f.) | The Returning Officer shall cause the voting-paper for the licensing poll to be marked in the same manner as the ballot-paper for the electoral poll, and shall give the voting-paper and the ballot-paper simultaneously to the voter. |
| (g.) | The Returning Officer and his deputy shall take care that every voter is provided with 'one voting-paper for the licensing poll. |
| (h.) | The voter shall strike out all the proposals on his voting-paper except one, or all except two, as he thinks fit; and his vote shall be deemed to be given in favour of the proposals which he does not strike out. |
| (i.) | If the voter strikes out all, or fails to strike out at least one, of the proposals the voting-paper shall be void, and he shall not be deemed to be a voter who has recorded his vote. |
| (j.) | The polling-booths in each district shall be the same as those used at the taking of the electoral poll. |
| (k.) | Every elector shall fold up the voting-paper at a licensing poll in the same manner as the ballot-paper at an electoral poll, but separate therefrom, and place it in the ballot-box specially set apart for receiving the said voting-papers. |
| (l.) | No voting-paper shall be taken out of the polling-booth. |
| (m.) | The scrutineers in respect of the electoral poll may act as scrutineers in respect of the licensing poll.page 4.gif) |
| (n.) | Every such scrutineer shall make the declaration required under "The Electoral Act, 1893," to be made by scrutineers at elections under that Act. |
| (o.) | If the result of any licensing poll is disputed, any fifty electors may require an inquiry to be held in manner provided by section forty-eight and the subsequent sections of "The Regulation of Local Elections Act, 1876," and the matter in dispute shall be determined in the same manner, mutatis mutandis, as if the said poll were an electoral poll. |
| (p.) | All expenses incident to the taking of a licensing poll shall be defrayed out of moneys to be appropriated by Parliament for the purpose. |
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| (2). | Every person who refuses or neglects to comply with, or commits any breach of, any of the provisions of this Part of this Act, or misleads or gives any misdirection to a voter in any matter relating to his vote, is liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. |
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| 8. | When proposal deemed to be carried. The Returning Officer shall count the votes, and reject all the informal votes, and shall ascertain and determine the result of the licensing poll in manner following:—
| (1). |
If the Returning Officer finds—
That the number of votes recorded in favour of the proposal that the number of licenses existing in the district shall continue is an absolute majority of all the voters whose votes were recorded,—
Then such proposal, unless superseded as hereinafter provided, shall be deemed to be carried, and he shall notify the Licensing Committee thereof, and the number of licenses shall continue as they are until the taking of the next licensing poll, subject nevertheless to the power of refusing to renew licenses objected to under subsections one to four, inclusive, of section eighty-one of the principal Act; and subject also to the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to forfeiture or increase of licenses.
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| (2). |
If the Returning Officer finds—
That the number of votes recorded in favour of the proposal that the number of licenses existing in the district shall be reduced is an absolute majority of all the voters whose votes were recorded,—
Then such proposal, unless superseded as hereinafter provided, shall be deemed to be carried, and shall supersede the proposal for continuance of licenses, and he shall notify the Licensing Committee thereof, and the number of licenses shall be reduced in manner following:—
| (a.) |
At its first annual meeting after the licensing poll the Committee shall reduce the number of publicans' licenses by not less than five per centum nor more than twenty-five per centum of the total number existing in the district at the time when the poll was taken, exclusive of licenses forfeited for breaches of the law:
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Provided that in case when a reduction vote has been carried the number of licenses shall be reduced by one at least where the number of licenses does not exceed ten, two at least where the number of licenses does not exceed thirty, and three at least where the number of licenses exceeds thirty.
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| (b.) | Those licenses which have been indorsed for breaches of the law in respect of selling liquor to children, or to female aboriginal Natives, or to drunken persons, or of selling liquor on Sundays, or of selling adulterated liquor, or in respect of which objections have been made and sustained under subsections one to four, inclusive, of section eighty-one of the principal Act, shall be the first to be reduced, and next those held in respect of premises which comprise little or no accommodation for lodgers and travellers except the bar. |
| (c.) | In making any reductions the Committee shall make such reductions to extend over the whole district in such manner as it thinks equitable, having regard to the convenience of the public and the particular requirements of the several localities within the district. |
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| (3). |
If the Returning Officer finds—
That the number of votes recorded in favour of the proposal that no licenses shall be granted in the district is not less than three-fifths of all the voters whose votes were recorded,—
Then such proposal shall be deemed to be carried, and shall supersede the proposals for reduction and for continuance of licenses, and he shall notify the Licensing Committee thereof; and thereafter no licenses of any description shall be granted therein until after another licensing poll has been taken.
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| (4). |
If the Returning Officer finds—
That none of the proposals respecting licenses in the district is carried by the prescribed majority,—
Then he shall notify the Licensing Committee thereof, and the number of licenses shall continue as they are until the taking of the next licensing poll, subject nevertheless to the power of refusing to renew licenses objected to under subsections one to four inclusive of section eighty-one of the principal Act, and subject also to the provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to forfeiture or increase of licenses.
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| 9. |
| (1). | Declaration of result of poll. As soon as conveniently may be after the result of the licensing poll has been ascertained, the Returning Officer shall give public notice, in the form in the Third Schedule hereto or to the like effect, of the total number of voters whose votes are recorded at the poll and of the number of votes recorded in favour of each of the aforesaid proposals, and shall declare the result of the poll respecting licenses in the district accordingly. |
| (2). | Such notice shall be binding on the Licensing Committee.page 6.gif) |
| (3). | Effect thereof. As soon as the licensing poll has been taken, all the voting-papers used and unused thereat shall be packed in separate parcels, apart from the ballot-papers used at the electoral poll, and transmitted by the Returning Officer to the Clerk of the Magistrate's Court nearest to the principal polling-place, and the said Clerk shall hold the said parcels in manner as provided by section thirty-seven of "The Regulation of Local Elections Act, 1876." |
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| 10. | Day of election to be a public half-holiday. Every day on which the election of the Licensing Committee takes place, or upon which the poll for local option under this Act is taken, shall be and be deemed to be a public holiday after mid-day, and such half-holiday shall be deemed to be a holiday within the meaning of the several statutes for the time being in force referring to public holidays; and, further, between the hours of twelve o'clock noon and seven o'clock in the evening it shall be unlawful to sell intoxicating liquors in any licensed premises. |
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