particular account of all your proceedings, and of the condition of affairs within your government. WILLIAM, R. ROYAL PROCLAMATION ESTABLISHING REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT1 July 26, 1832 WILLIAM the Fourth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: WHEREAS by Our letters patent under the great seal of Our United Kingdom aforesaid, bearing date at Westminster, the 2d of March 1832, in the second year of Our reign, We have given and granted to Our trusty and well-beloved Sir Thomas John Cochrane, Knight, Our Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Our Island of Newfoundland, full power and authority to summon and call a General Assembly of the freeholders and householders within Our said Island; it is therefore Our pleasure, and We do hereby declare and make known to all Our loving subjects within the same, that for the purpose of the election of the members of the said Assembly, the said Island shall be divided into nine districts, to be called respectively The district of St. John. The district of Conception Bay. The district of Bonavista. The district of Trinity Bay. The district of Ferryland. 1 Commons Papers, 1831-32, vol. 32, No. 704, p. 14. The district of Placentia and St. Mary. The district of Burin. The district of Fortune Bay. And we do further declare Our pleasure to be that Our said Governor do issue in Our name writs for the election of the members of the several districts before mentioned, which writs shall be addressed to the several returning officers aforesaid, and shall by them be returned to the Colonial Secretary for the time being of Our said Island. And it is Our will and pleasure that every man, being of the full age of twenty-one years and upwards, and being of sound understanding, and being Our natural born subject, or having been lawfully naturalized, and never having been convicted in due course of law of any infamous crime, and having for two years next immediately preceding the day of election occupied a dwelling-house within Our said Island as owner or tenant thereof, shall be eligible to be a member of the said House of Assembly. And it is Our further will and pleasure, that every man who for one year next immediately preceding the day of election hath occupied a dwelling-house within Our said Island as owner or tenant thereof, and who in other respects may be eligible, according to the regulations aforesaid, to be a member of the said House of Assembly, shall be competent and entitled to vote for the election of members of the said Assembly in and for the district within which the dwelling-house so occupied as aforesaid by him may be situate. And it is Our pleasure that the votes for the members of the said Assembly shall be taken by the said several returning officers at such one or more place or places within each of the said districts as shall for that purpose be appointed in the body of the writ addressed to the returning officer of every such district respectively, and at or within such time or times as shall for the purpose be therein limited: but inasmuch as by reason of the difficulty of internal communication within Our said Island, many persons entitled to vote might be prevented from the exercise of such their franchise, if in every case it were necessary to attend in person for that purpose, We do therefore declare Our pleasure to be, that in respect of any dwellinghouse situate at the distance of more than miles from the nearest place of election, within any of the said districts, the vote of any householder, duly qualified as aforesaid, may be given without his personal attendance, by a written notice subscribed by such voter, in the presence of two credible witnesses, and duly attested by their signatures; which notices shall be in such form as Our Governor for the time being of Our said Island shall from time to time direct. And it is Our further pleasure, that if any candidate or voter at any such election shall object to any vote then tendered, it shall be the duty of the returning officer to hear such objection, and what may be alleged in support of, or in answer to, the same, and to examine on oath the parties by or against whom such objection may be raised, and any person or persons who may be adduced as a witness or as witnesses on either side; and upon such hearing, to admit or to overrule any such objection as may to such returning officer appear just and right. And We do further declare Our will to be, that the persons in favor of whom the greater number of votes shall be given in any such district shall be publicly declared by such returning officer to be duly elected to be the representatives thereof in the said General Assembly, and shall thereupon be returned and take their seats accordingly: Provided always, that in cases of peculiar doubt or difficulty, it shall be competent for any such returning officer to make a special return, setting forth the grounds of such doubt, upon which the said House of Assembly shall afterwards decide. And it is Our will, and We do further declare, that the Assembly so to be chosen as aforesaid shall continue only during Our pleasure, and that the said Assembly shall not proceed to the despatch of any business, unless six members at the least shall be present at and during the whole of the deliberations of the said House thereupon. And whereas it may be necessary, in order to the complete execution of the several purposes aforesaid, that further regulations should be made for the conduct of the said elections, and the return of members to serve in the said House of Assembly, We have therefore authorized, and do hereby authorize, Our Governor for the time being of Our said Island, by any proclamation or proclamations to be by him from time to time issued in Our name and on Our behalf, to make such further regulations as may be necessary for the conduct of the said elections, and for the return of members to serve in the said House of Assembly, and for the due discharge of the duties of the said returning officer; and which regulations shall be of full force, virtue and effect until provision be otherwise made by law, it being, nevertheless, Our pleasure that the regulations so to be made as aforesaid be not repugnant to, or inconsistent with, the several provisions hereinbefore contained, or any of them. Given at our Court, at St. James's, on the twenty-sixth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, in the third year of Our reign. ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NEWFOUNDLAND [5 & 6 Victoria, cap. 120] 1842 An Act for amending the Constitution of the Government of Newfoundland. WHEREAS by a Commission under the great seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the second day of March in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, his late Majesty King William IV, did give and grant unto the then Governor of the Island of Newfoundland full power and authority, with the advice and consent of the Council of the said Island, from time to time, as need should require, to summon and call general assemblies of the freeholders and householders within the said Island and its dependencies, in such manner and form, and according to such powers, instructions, and authorities, as were granted or appointed by certain instructions under his said late Majesty's sign manual and signet accompanying the said commission; and his said late Majesty did by the said Commission declare, that the persons so elected, having taken certain oaths therein mentioned, should be called and deemed the General Assembly of the said Island of Newfoundland; and the said Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the said Council and Assembly or the major part of them respectively, was by the said commission empowered and authorized to make, constitute, and ordain laws, statutes, and ordinances for the public peace, welfare, and good government of the said |