§ MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSHbegged to put a Question to the Solicitor General, in the absence of the Attorney General. The Ballot Act declared that the Returning Officer should, on the date of receiving the Writ, or on the following day, between the hours of 9 and 4, give notice of the days of nomination' and of polling, and Section 56 provided that Good Friday should be ex- 1100 cluded in all questions of computing time. In some parts of Scotland the Writs would be received after 4 o'clock on Thursday, the 25th, or, at least, not in time to enable the Returning Officers to make the necessary arrangements. He wished to know, Whether Clause 56 applied to this stage of the proceedings; and, whether a Returning Officer was obliged to delay taking any steps whatever until Saturday, the 27th?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL (Sir HARDINGE GIFFARD),in reply, said, the 1st clause of the section prohibited anything being done on Good Friday, Sunday, or any day appointed as a public fast or holiday. He thought this prohibition applied to the stage of election proceedings referred to. The latter part of the 56th section provided that anything required by the Act to be done on one of these prohibited days might be done on the following day. That being so, Saturday would be the proper day for beginning to act under a Writ not received till late on Thursday.