Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/652

 626 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Appendix E Representatives may be chosen, and the number of members to be chosen for each division. A division shall not be formed out of parts of different States. In the absence of other provision, each State shall be one electorate. vjiuiiOoation of eiwtors. jq. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the qualification of electors of members of the House of Representatives shall be in each State that which is prescribed by the law of the State as the qualification of electors of the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State ; but in the choosing of members each elector shall vote only once. Applicatioii of Slate Writs for general eteoHon. Writs for vacancies. Qualifications of meinberv. Election of Speaker Abwnce of Speaker. 31. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, but subject to this Constitution, the laws in force in each State for the time being relating to elections for the more numerous House of Parliament of the State shall, as nearly as practicable, apply to elections in the State of members of the House of Representatives. 32. The Governor-General in Council may cause writs to be issued for general elections of members of the House of Representatives. After the first general election, the writs shall be issued within ten days from the expiry of a House of Representatives or from the proclamation of a dissolution thereof. 33. Whenever a vacancy happens in the House of Representatives, the Speaker shall issue his writ for the election of a new member, or if there is no Speaker, or if he is absent from the Commonwealth, the Governor-General in Council may issue the writ. 34. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the qualifications of a member of the House of Representatives shall be as follows : — (1.) He must be of the full age of twenty-one years, and must be an elector entitled to vote at the election of members of the House of Representatives, or a person qualified to become such elector, and must have been for three years at the least a resident within the limits of the Commonwealth as existing at the time when he is chosen : (11.) He must be a subject of the Queen, either natural-born or for at least five years naturalised under a law of the United Kingdom, or of a Colony which has become or becomes a State, or of the Commonwealth, or of a State. 35. The House of Representatives shall, before proceeding to the dispatch of any other business, choose a member to be the Speaker of the House, and as often as the oflSce of Speaker becomes vacant the House shall again choose a member to be the Speaker. The Speaker shall cease to hold his office if he ceases to be a member. He may be removed from office by a vote of the House, or he may resign his office or his seat by writing addressed to the Governor-General. 36. Before or during any absence of the Speaker, the House of Representatives may choose a member to perform his duties in his absence. K««Kn«tion of member. 37. A member may by writing addres.sed to the Speaker, or to the Governor-General if there is no Speaker or if the Speaker is absent from the Commonwealth, resign his place, which thereupon shall become vacant. Vacancy by altaence. (Quorum. Volinx in Uotue of K^-pre^entati veit. 38. The place of a member shall become vacant if for two consecutive months of any session of the Parliament he, without the permission of the House, fails to attend the House. 39. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the presence of at least one-third of the whole number of the members of the House of Representatives shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the House for the exercise of its powers. 40. Questions arising in the House of Representatives shall be determined by a majority of votes other than that of the Speaker. The Speaker shall not vote unless the numbers are equal, and then he shall have a casting vote.