Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act Amendment Act 1948 (WA)

1948.] Registration of Births, Deaths [No 21.

and Marriages.

REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS,

DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.

12° GE°. VI., No. XXI.

No. 21 of 1948.

AN ACT to amend the Registration of Births, Deaths

and Marriages Act, 1894

[Assented to 18th November, 1948.]

BE it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty,by and with the advice and consent of the Legis- lative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

1. This Act may be cited as the Registration of Births, asit,", ill!

Deaths and Marriages Act Amendment Act, 1948, and in""`""t

shall be read as one with the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act, 1894 (Act 58 Victorhe No. 16, as amended by Acts 64 Victoria? No. 31, No. 19 of 1907, and No. 4 of 1914), hereinafter called the principal Act, and shall come into operation and take effect as and from a date to be proclaimed.

2.    The principal Act, as amended by this Act, may ocri.,t3,,=,°;,,

be cited as the Registration of Births, Deaths and amended'

Marriages Act, 1894-1948.

3.    Section three of the principal Act is amended by Mr'

deleting the definition of "District Registrar" and sub-

stituting therefor the following definitions :—

"Assistant District Registrar" means any registrar appointed to a registry district to assist the district registrar in the carrying out of his duties therein.

"District Registrar" means any district registrar or deputy district registrar appointed to admin- ister the provisions of this Act in a registry district.

No. 21.] Registration of Births, Deaths [1948.

and Marriages.

A inondment

of s. 8. 4. Section eight of the principal Act is amended by deleting the word "dwell" in line two and substituting therefor the words "maintain an office".

Amendment

of s. 13. 5. Section thirteen of the principal Act is amended

by inserting after the word "shall" in line three of subsection (2) the words "within ten days after such death".

Repeal of

a. IA and	6.	Section fourteen of the principal Act is repealed
substitution

of now	and a ' low section is substituted therefor as follows:-
section.

District	14. Every district registrar shall, on the first day
Registrars to

transmit	of every month, transmit to the Registrar General—
monthly to

Registrar	(a) duplicates of the registrations of births and
General

duplicates of	deaths made and entered in his office
registrations
of births and	during the next preceding month;
deaths and

of marriage	( b) duplicates of marriage certificates in respect
certificate'

to marriages celebrated by him during

the next preceding month; and

(c) certificates of marriages celebrated by ministers and registered by him during the next preceding month.

All such duplicates and certificates shall be there- after kept in the General Registry, in such order and manner as the Registrar General thinks fit so that the same may be most readily seen and examined.

Amendment 7.

Section sixteen of the principal Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following proviso:

-of a. 16.

Provided that if any registration of birth in such register book reveals the fact that the person whose birth such registration records has been legally adopted, or is an illegitimate child, no search of such registration shall be permitted unless and until the Registrar General shall consent to such search being 'made, and no certified copy of such registra- tion shall be issued, except by the authority and at the discretion of the Registrar General.

Amendment 8.

Section twenty of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding a new subsection as follows:—

=of 5. 20.

19481 Registration of Births, Deaths [No 21.

and Marriages.

(4) If the Registrar General is satisfied that it is expedient for a marriage to be celebrated at any particular place and the office of the District Regis- trar of the district in which such place is situated is not located within reasonable distance of such place, and there is no minister available to celebrate such marriage, the Registrar General, upon receiv- ing a request in writing under the hand of the head of a religious denomination for the registration of a person not ordinarily officiating as a minister of religion for the purpose of celebrating such mar- riage, may register the name of such person as authorised to celebrate such marriage, or the Regis- trar General, on receiving a request in writing under the hands of the intended parties to the marriage may at his discretion register the name of a person designated by him who shall be authorised to cele- brate such marriage according to the form applicable in the case of a marriage celebrated by a District Registrar.

Amendment

9. Section twenty-one of the principal Act is amended of s. 21.

by inserting after the word "wilfully" in line six the

words "or habitually".

Amendment

10.

Section twenty-eight of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words "the same" in the last line thereof and substituting therefor the words "the reasons for the omission previously to furnish the information required for the registration of such birth."	of s. 28.
New notion

11. The principal Act is amended by inserting after 31A.

section thirty-one a new section as follows:-

Registration

31A. Where the Registrar General is satisfied of Change of

that any person whose birth or marriage is regis-

Name.

tered in Western Australia, has lawfully changed his name since such registration, then the Registrar General may, upon receipt of an application in writing from such person for such change to be noted in the register, together with a copy of the document (if any) authorising such change, and upon payment of the prescribed fee, cause an entry referring to such change of name to be made in the margin of the registration of birth or marriage (as the ease may be) of such person.

No. 21.] Registration of Births, Deaths [1948.

and Marriages.

Amendment

of s. 32.	12. Section thirty-two of the principal Act is amended by adding after the word "found" in line four the words "and shall forthwith as far as he is able, after due inquiry, furnish to the district registrar such particulars as the district registrar may require to effect registra- tion of the birth."
Amendment

of s, 34. 13. Section thirty-four of the principal Act is

amended by

(a)	inserting after the word "occurs," in line two of subsection (1), the words "or the person disposing of the body"; and
(b)	adding after the word "mentioned" in the last line of the proviso to subsection (2) the words "upon payment of the fee which would have been payable had the registration been effected within fourteen days."

Repeal of	14. Section thirty-seven of the principal Act is
s. 37 and

substitution	repealed and a new section is substituted therefor as
of new
section 37.	follows:—

Where dead	37. Whenever any dead body is found exposed,
body is found

notice to be	or whenever in the case of the death of any person
given to the
District	there is reasonable cause to suspect that such person
Registrar.
has died either a violent or unnatural death, or has died a sudden death of which the cause is unknown, then if the Coroner of the district where such body has been found or such death has occurred considers that it is unnecessary to hold an inquiry into the manner and cause of the death, the Coroner shall forthwith give to the district registrar such infor- mation as he possesses as to the identity of the deceased person and the date, place and cause of death.
Amendment

of s. :39. 15. Section thirty-nine of the principal Act is

amended by

(a) inserting after the word "bury" in line nine,

the words "or dispose of the body";

(b) inserting after the word "burial" in line nine,

the words "or disposal of the body";

(c) inserting after the word "buried" in line ten,

the words "or disposed of";

1948.] Registration of Births, Deaths [No 21.

and Marriages.

(d) inserting after the word "buries" in line eleven,

the words "or disposes of";

(e) substituting for the words "or who in any other way disposes of the body, shall forthwith" in lines eleven and twelve, the words "or disposal of the body, shall, within fourteen days after such burial or disposal";

(1) inserting after the word "buried" in line seven-

teen, the words "or otherwise disposed of";

(g)	inserting after the word "Act," in line twenty, the words "or the form prescribed by the Cremation Act, 1929-1935, and the regulations made thereunder,";
(h)	substituting for the word "forthwith" in line twenty-three, the words "within fourteen days after the burial or disposal of the body"; and

(i)    substituting for the words "such burial or by two respectable persons, and every such burial shall be registered with the death of such person.'' in lines twenty-five, twenty-six and twenty-seven, the words "the burial or dis- posal or depositing at a crematorium, of such body, or by two witnesses of the burial, dis- posal, or depositing at a crematorium of such body, and every such burial, disposal or cremation of such body shall be registered with the registration of the death of such person.".

16.    The principal Act is amended by inserting after istrecticm

section thirty-nine a new section as follows:-

39A. The superintendent or person in charge of 1,'„lsrtiVi'sf„„,,,

any cemetery or crematorium shall, before the =fur

fifteenth day of each and every month, forward to rml r ?et t°E.

the Registrar General a statement setting out the monthly-.

names and the last previous addresses of all persons whose bodies were received for burial or cremation at such cemetery or crematorium during the next preceding month.

17. Section forty of the principal Act is amended Ameudmoot of s. 40.

by-

No. 21.] Registration of Births, Deaths [1948.

and Marriages.

(a) substituting for the first paragraph commencing with the words "Every minister" and con- cluding with the words "the same" a new paragraph as follows:—

Every district registrar shall, immedi- ately after a marriage celebrated by him, register in duplicate the several particulars relating to such marriage, according to the form of the Eleventh Schedule to this Act, and shall also register the several particu- lars, according to the form of the Eleventh Schedule to this Act, relating to any mar- riage celebrated in his registry district by a minister, who shall have transmitted such particulars to the district registrar for such purpose as provided in paragraph (b) of this section; and all such registrations shall be numbered consecutively;

(h) substituting for the words "forthwith transmit the second" in line two of paragraph (b) of the section, the words "within fourteen days after the celebration of such marriage, trans- mit another";

(c)	substituting for the word "third" in line ten of paragraph (b) of the section the word "remaining"; and
(d)	deleting subsection (c) and substituting the

following

(c) Whenever the marriage is celebrated by a District Registrar, the second copy of such register form shall be retained by the District Registrar as a record of such marriage, and the third copy- shall be transmitted by him to the Registrar General.

Zinn

18. The principal Act is amended by inserting after section forty-four a new section as follows:—

Ito ar

!toan ral may 44A. (1) When by reason of the default of the

quire an)

pf r,un to	persons required to give information, any birth,
f
in torn) , lion	death or marriage has not been registered or has been registered without all the required particulars having been recorded, the Registrar General may

1948.] Registration of Births, Deaths, [No. 21.

and Marriages.

require any person whom he believes to be acquainted with any of the facts concerning such birth, death or marriage, to attend personally at the Registrar General's office or at the office of the district registrar in whose district such person resides within such time, being not less than seven days after the receipt of the notice, as may be specified in the notice requiring such attendance, and to give to the Registrar General or to the dis- trict registrar, as the ease may be, such information as he possesses concerning such birth, death or marriage as the Registrar General or the district registrar may require to enable the said birth, death or marriage to be registered, or to enable the required particulars to be recorded.

(2) It shall be the duty of any person to whom

any such notice is given to comply with the require-

ments of such notice within the time therein specified.

19. Section forty-six of the principal Act is amended Nu:Irene

by deleting subsection (2) and inserting in substitution

therefor the subsection following :—

(2) Every person who shall give the information required for the registration of births or deaths under this Act shall forward or produce to the district registrar a statement in the prescribed form of the particulars required by this Act to be' regis- tered, and such prescribed form shall include a declaration in the form given in the Twelfth Schedule to this Act, or to such like effect, verifying such particulars and attested by a subscribing witness, and a person producing such statement to the district registrar may also be required to subscribe his name in the register of births or deaths in the column provided for recording particulars of the informant.

The district registrar shall mark each statement so forwarded or produced to him with a number corresponding with the number of the entry in the register, and with the respective dates on which it was received and registered, and shall sign the same, and in cases where the informant does not sign the register, shall insert the name of such informant in the appropriate column in the register,

preceded by the words "certified in writing by''. Each such statement shall, upon completion of the registration, be forwarded by the district registrar to the Registrar General, who shall cause the same to be filed in his office.