conviction, of being registered as a voter, or voting at any election of a member of the Council. 34. Every person who (1.) Forges or counterfeits, or fraudulently defaces or destroys, any ballot paper or the official mark on any ballot paper; or (2.) Without due authority supplies a ballot paper to any person; or (3.) Fraudulently puts into any ballot box any paper other than the ballot paper which he is authorised by law to put in; or (4.) Fraudulently takes out of the polling station any ballot paper; or (5.) Without due authority destroys, takes, opens, or otherwise interferes with any ballot box or packet of ballot papers then in use for the purposes of any election; or (6.) Not being duly registered as a voter, votes at the election of a member of the Council; shall be guilty of misdemeanour, and be liable, if he is a returning officer or presiding officer, or clerk employed at a polling station, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, or to a fine not exceeding £200, and, if he is any other person, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour, or to a fine not exceeding £50. Any attempt to commit any offence specified in this clause shall be punishable in the manner in which the offence itself is punishable. In any information or prosecution for an offence in relation to the ballot boxes, ballot papers and other things in use at an election, the property in such ballot boxes, ballot papers, or things may be stated to be in the returning officer at such election. 35. Every officer, clerk and agent, in attendance at a polling station shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of the voting in such station, and shall not communicate, except for some purpose authorised by law, before the poll is closed, to any person any information as to the name or number on the register of voters of any voter who has or has not applied for a ballot paper or voted at that station, and no person shall interfere with or attempt to interfere with a voter when marking his vote, or otherwise attempt to obtain in the polling station any information as to the candidate for whom any voter in such station is about to vote or has voted, or as to the number on the back of the ballot paper given to any voter at such station. Every officer, clerk and agent in attendance at the counting of the votes shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of the voting, and shall not attempt to ascertain at such counting the number on the back of any ballot paper or communicate any information obtained at such counting as to the candidate for whom any vote is given in any particular ballot paper. No person shall, directly or indirectly, induce any voter to display his ballot paper after he has marked it so as to make known to any person the name of the candidate for whom or against whose name he has so marked his vote. Every person who acts in contravention of the provisions of this clause shall be liable, on summary conviction before a Magistrate, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour, or to a fine not exceeding £50. 36. In the preceding Clauses 26 to 35 words importing the masculine gender shall include females. 37. It shall be lawful for the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Grenada. 38. Subject to the provisions of this Order the Council shall, in the transaction of business and passing of laws, conform as nearly as may be to the directions as to the transaction of business and passing of laws by the Council from time to time conveyed to the Governor in instructions under His Majesty's Sign Manual and Signet, but no law enacted by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, shall be invalid by reason that in the enactment thereof any such instructions were not duly observed. 39. Subject to the provisions of this Order and such instructions as aforesaid, the Council may from time to time make Standing Rules and Orders for the regulation of its own proceedings. And until any such Rules and Orders shall be made, and subject to any Rules and Orders to be so made, the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Council of Grenada at present in force shall remain in force and apply, so far as the same are applicable thereto, to the Council established by this Order. 40. The Governor, if present, or, in his absence, any member of the Council appointed by him in writing, or in default of such appointment, or in the absence of the member so appointed, the member present who stands first in order of precedence, shall preside at every meeting of the Council. 41. All questions proposed for decision in the Council shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present, and the Governor or other presiding member shall have an original vote on all such questions, and also a casting vote if the votes shall be equally divided. 42. The Council shall not be disqualified for the transaction of business by reason of any vacancy or vacancies among the ex officio, nominated, or elected members. [CXIX] D 2 43. Until otherwise provided by the Council, no business except that of adjournment shall be transacted unless there shall be present five members besides the Governor or presiding member. 44. It shall be competent for any member of the Council to propose any question for debate therein; and such question, if seconded by any other member, shall be debated and disposed of according to the Standing Rules and Orders: Provided always, that no Ordinance, vote, resolution, or question, the object or effect of which may be to dispose of or charge any part of His Majesty's revenue arising within Grenada, or to revoke, alter, or vary any such disposition or charge, shall be proposed, except by the Governor or with his consent: And provided further, that no vote, resolution or question, the object or effect of which may be to suspend the Standing Orders of the Council, shall be proposed except by the Governor or with his consent. 45. The sessions of the Council shall be held at such times and places as the Governor shall from time to time by Proclamation appoint. There shall be at least one session of the Council in every year, and there shall not be an interval of twelve months between the last sitting in one session and the first sitting in the next session. 46. The Governor may at any time, by Proclamation, prorogue or dissolve the Council. 47. The Governor shall dissolve the Council at the expiration of three years from the date of the return of the first writs at the last preceding general election, if it shall not have been sooner dissolved. 48. A general election shall be held at such time, within two months after every dissolution of the Council, as the Governor shall by Proclamation appoint. 49. His Majesty doth hereby reserve to himself, his Heirs and Successors, full power and authority from time to time to revoke, alter or amend this Order as to him or them shall seem fit; and nothing herein contained shall affect his or their undoubted right, by and with the advice of his or their Privy Council, to make from time to time all such laws as may to him or them appear necessary for the peace, order, and good government of Grenada. 50. This Order shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the Governor by Proclamation in the Grenada Government "Gazette,"(3) and shall be published in such "Gazette "; and from such date so fixed as aforesaid the Order in Council dated the 5th day of March, 1885, declaring the constitution of the Legislative Council for the Island of Grenada and its Dependencies shall be and the same is (3) This Order was brought into operation on December 1, 1924. hereby revoked, but without prejudice to anything lawfully done thereunder. And the Right Honourable James Henry Thomas, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. M. P. A. HANKEY. BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL amending the Constitution of the Legislature of the Island of Saint Vincent.— London, March 21, 1924.(1) At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 21st day of March, 1924. PRESENT: THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL. WHEREAS by an Order of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in Council dated the 5th day of March, 1885, and made in pursuance of the powers given to Her Majesty by "The Saint Vincent, Tobago, and Grenada Constitution Act, 1876,"(2) and by an Act of the Legislature of the Island of Saint Vincent, known as "The Constitution Act, 1876," after reciting that Her Majesty in Council had by an Order in Council of even date therewith approved the draft of Letters Patent (which now bear date the 17th day of March, 1885), constituting the office of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Windward Islands, comprising the Islands of Grenada, Saint Vincent, Tobago, and Saint Lucia, and their Dependencies, it was ordered that the Legislative Council of Saint Vincent should consist of such persons as were members thereof immediately before the publication in the island of the said Letters Patent, and of such other persons as might be thereafter appointed in pursuance of the said Letters Patent, and that the said Council should have the powers prescribed in the said Letters Patent, and should exercise the same in the manner and with the forms in the said Letters Patent directed; And whereas by the Act last above recited power was reserved to Her Majesty in Council from time to time to alter or amend the Legislature of the Island of Saint Vincent, or any of the forms or powers thereof; And whereas by an Order of Her Majesty in Council dated the 17th day of November, 1888, the Colony of Tobago was united into the Colony of Trinidad; (1) "London Gazette," January 30, 1925. [CXIX] D 3 And whereas it hath seemed fit to His Majesty to make further and other provision for the Government of the Windward Islands comprising the Islands of Grenada, Saint Vincent, and Saint Lucia, and their Dependencies, and with that object His Majesty in Council hath, by an Order in Council of even date herewith, approved the draft of Letters Patent revoking the said Letters Patent of the 17th day of March, 1885, and constituting the office of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Windward Islands, comprising the Islands of Grenada, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, and their Dependencies, and hath ordered that the Right Honourable James Henry Thomas, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, do cause a warrant to be prepared for His Majesty's Royal Signature, for passing under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom Letters Patent conformable to the said draft; And whereas it is therefore necessary again to declare the constitution of the Legislature of the Island of Saint Vincent, and the powers and forms thereof: Now, therefore, in pursuance of the powers in His Majesty vested in virtue of "The Saint Vincent, Tobago, and Grenada Constitution Act, 1876," it is hereby ordered by His Majesty, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, as follows: 1. This Order may be cited as "The Saint Vincent (Legislative Council) Order in Council, 1924." 2. In this Order " His Majesty " includes His Majesty's Heirs and Successors; "Secretary of State" means one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; "Governor means the Governor and Commander-in-Chief for the time being of the Windward Islands and includes every person for the time being administering the government of the Windward Islands; the Island" and "Saint Vincent " mean the Island of Saint Vincent and its Dependencies; "the Council" means the Legislative Council in and for the Island of Saint Vincent and its Dependencies, which Council shall be known as the Legislative Council of Saint Vincent. 3. There shall be in and for Saint Vincent a Legislative Council, constituted as hereinafter mentioned. 4. The Council shall consist of the Governor, of four ex officio members, of one nominated member and of three elected members. The ex officio members shall be the persons for the time being lawfully discharging the functions of the respective offices of Colonial Secretary, of Attorney-General, of Treasurer, and of one other office to be from time to time designated by His Majesty by an Order in his Privy Council, or through a Secretary of State. The nominated member shall be such a person, not holding any office in the public service of the island, as His Majesty |