STATUTORY RULES.

1917. No. 319.

REGULATIONS UNDER THE WAR PRECAUTIONS ACT 1914-1916.

I, SIR ARTHUR LYULPH STANLEY, Governor of the State of Victoria, and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting as the Deputy of the Governor-General in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations, under the War Precautions Act 1914-1916, to come into operation forthwith.

Dated this fifth day of December, 1917.

A. L. STANLEY,

Deputy of the Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

P. McM. GLYNN,

for the Minister of State for Defence.

Amendment of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917.

(Statutory Rules 1917, No. 290, as amended by Statutory Rules 1917, Nos. 304, 306, 308, 314, 315, and 316.)

1. Regulation 12 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 is amended by inserting after sub-regulation (2) the following sub-regulation:—

“(2a) Subject to these Regulations, members of the Forces who are not enrolled as electors of the Commonwealth but are eligible to be so enrolled, or would be so eligible if they were of the age of twenty-one years, and who are not entitled under the preceding provisions of this Regulation to vote, shall be entitled to vote as electors upon making on polling day before the Presiding Officer at the Camp in which they are being trained a declaration in the form contained in Regulation 14a of these Regulations.”

2. Regulation 13 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 is amended by inserting in the margin opposite the paragraph numbered (2) of the form of declaration contained in that Regulation the following words:—“In the case of a member of the Forces under the age of twenty-one years serving outside Australia, strike out paragraph (2).”.

3. Regulation 14 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 is amended—

(a) by inserting after the word “enrolled” (second occurring) the words “, or who, if he were of the age of twenty-one years, would be eligible to be so enrolled,”; and

(b) by inserting in the margin opposite the paragraph numbered (2) of the form of declaration contained in that Regulation the following words:—“In the case of a person who is or has been a member of the Forces who has returned from serving outside Australia and is not of the age of twenty-one years, strike out paragraph (2).”.

C.16460.—Price 3d.

4. After Regulation 14 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 the following Regulation is inserted:—

Form of declaration by member of the Forces who has not served outside Australia—Voting before presiding officer at camp on polling day.

“14a. The form of declaration to be made by a member of the Forces, who is not enrolled as an elector of the Commonwealth but is eligible to be so enrolled or would be so eligible if he were of the age of twenty-one years, and who has not served outside Australia or returned from such service but who desires to vote before a Presiding Officer on polling day at the Camp in which he is being trained, shall be as follows:—

FORM OF DECLARATION.—ABSENT VOTING.

Australian Forces who have not yet served outside Australia.—Voting before Presiding Officer on Polling Day.

commonwealth of australia.

Military Service Referendum 1917.

I declare—

(1) that I am a member of the Forces*;

(2) that I am eligible to be enrolled as an elector of the Commonwealth but am not so enrolled, or would be eligible to be so enrolled if I were of the age of twenty-one years;

(3) that my name and designation are as follow:—

I further declare that I have not previously voted at the Referendum to which this declaration relates, and I promise and declare that if I am permitted to vote I will not again vote or attempt to vote at this Referendum. I am aware that it is an offence to personate or attempt to personate any other person for the purpose of securing a ballot-paper to which I am not entitled, or wilfully to make any false statement in this declaration, or to vote more than once at this Referendum.

Personal signature of Voter.........................................................................

Declared before me the..........................................................day of..................................., 1917, at.................................................Camp.

Presiding Officer..................................................

* “Member of the Forces” means a person who is a member of the Commonwealth Naval or Military Forces enlisted or appointed for active service outside Australia, or on a ship of war, and a person engaged as a munition or other worker under agreement with the Commonwealth Government for service outside Australia, and includes a person who is a member of the Army Medical Corps Nursing Service who is accepted or appointed by the Director-General of Medical Services for service outside Australia.

Directions.

(1) This form of declaration must, after being filled up, be signed by the voter with his personal signature in the presence of the Presiding Officer, and then be completed and attested by the Presiding Officer.—(2) The Presiding Officer shall then, if he is satisfied as to the identity of the voter, initial and hand to the voter one ballot-paper headed “Absent Vote,

Military Service Referendum 1917,” having thereon the question submitted at the Referendum.—(3) The voter will then forthwith (i) retire alone to an unoccupied compartment of the polling booth, and there in private mark his vote in the manner indicated on the ballot-paper handed to him; and (ii) fold the ballot-paper in such a manner as to conceal his vote, and at once return the ballot-paper so folded to the Presiding Officer before whom he made the declaration.— (4) The Presiding Officer will see that he receives from the voter the ballot-paper duly, folded, and, if necessary for the purpose of identification, again request the voter to state his name. He will then, without unfolding the ballot-paper, forthwith, in the presence of the voter, enclose the ballot-paper received from that voter in the envelope bearing the declaration of the voter, and addressed to the Divisional Returning Officer for the Division in which the declaration is made, securely fasten the envelope, and deposit it in the ballot-box.”.

5. Regulation 18 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 is amended by inserting after the word “who” (first occurring) the words “have not yet served outside Australia or”.

6. Sub-regulation (4) of Regulation 22 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 is amended by inserting in paragraph (a) after the word “enrolled” (second occurring) the words “or being a person who, if he were of the age of twenty-one years, would be eligible to be so enrolled,”.

7. Regulation 35 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 is amended by inserting after the word “who” (first occurring) the words “have not yet served outside Australia, or”.

8. Regulation 42 of the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 is amended by adding at the end of sub-regulation (4) thereof the words “unless he satisfies the Magistrate that he was wholly unaware of the conviction or finding and that he had reasonable ground for believing and did in fact believe the statement to be true”.

Printed and Published for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia by Albert J. Mullett, Government Printer for the State of Victoria.