This Act may be cited as the Military Training Poll Act, 1949.

On a day to be fixed by the Governor-General by Order in Council there shall be taken a poll of the electors of each electoral district constituted under the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945, and of each Maori electoral district constituted under Part IV of the Electoral Act, 1927, upon the proposal that provision be made for compulsory military training.

The proposal shall be submitted in the form in the Schedule to this Act:

Provided that the voting-paper given to any elector of a Maori electoral district shall be printed both in the English language and in the Maori language.

Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any regulations made under this Act, and subject to any necessary modifications, the provisions of the Licensing Act, 1908, and of the Electoral Act, 1927, shall, so far as they are applicable, apply to the poll as if it were a general licensing poll taken simultaneously with a general election of members of Parliament.

The day of the poll shall not be a half-holiday, and section one hundred and twenty-eight of the Electoral Act, 1927 (as amended by section twenty-six of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1946), shall apply to the poll as if the following subsections had been substituted for subsections one to three:—

In every electoral district the poll shall close at seven o’clock in the evening.

Any elector of a Maori electoral district, instead of voting at a Maori polling-place, may vote at any European polling-place within that district in the same manner as if it were a Maori polling-place.

Any elector of a Maori electoral district, whether or not he is registered as an elector, may vote as an absent voter under section one hundred and thirty-nine of the Electoral Act, 1927, at any polling-place outside that district, whether European or Maori.

Part I of the Electoral Amendment Act, 1948 (which relates to the registration of Maori electors and to Maori representation generally), shall not apply to the poll; and, subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, the law in force immediately before the passing of that Act shall apply to the poll as if Part I of that Act had not been passed.

Subject to the provisions of this section, the roll of electors for each European electoral district at the poll shall be the roll as provided by the Electoral Act, 1927.

For the purposes of the poll the roll in each district shall be deemed to be closed at six o’clock in the evening of a day to be fixed by the Governor-General by Order in Council, and that day shall in each district be deemed to be equivalent to the day of the issue of a writ for the election of a member of Parliament for the district.

The rolls to be used in each district for the purposes of the poll shall be the general and supplementary rolls used at the last general election, together with the supplementary roll prepared for the poll taken under the Gaming Poll Act, 1948, and a further supplementary roll to be prepared by the Registrar of Electors of each district and to include the names of all electors registered by him after the closing of the rolls for the gaming poll and remaining on the roll for the district at its closing under subsection two of this section.

In every district the general roll and every supplementary roll used at the poll directed by this Act, amended as required by the Electoral Act, 1927, together with any supplementary roll prepared after that poll, shall be the roll to be used at any by-election held before the first general election held after the passing of this Act.

As soon as practicable after the close of the poll in each district the Returning Officer shall count the votes recorded for and against the proposal, and shall reject all informal votes.

Immediately after he has counted the votes he shall send to the Chief Electoral Officer a statement of the number of informal votes, and of the total number of valid votes recorded, and of the number of valid votes recorded for and against the proposal.

As soon as the Chief Electoral Officer has received the said statements from all Returning Officers he shall ascertain and declare—

The Chief Electoral Officer shall notify in the Gazette the numbers of the votes as finally ascertained by him and the result of the poll as determined thereby.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make all such regulations as he deems necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving full effect to the provisions of this Act and for the due administration thereof.