Section 30

if the candidate applies to an Election Judge or a

Judge of the High Court and shows that the failure to transmit such return and declarations, or any of them, or any part thereof, or any error or false statement therein, has arisen by reason of his illness, or of the absence, death, illness, negligence or misconduct of his election agent or of any clerk or officer of such agent, or by reason of inadvertence or any reasonable cause of a like nature, and not by reason of any want of good faith on the part of the applicant; or

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if the election agent of the candidate applies to an

Election Judge or a Judge of the High Court and shows that the failure to transmit the return and statements which he was required to transmit, or any part thereof, or any error or false statement therein, arose by reason of his illness, or of the death, illness, negligence or misconduct of any prior election agent of the candidate, or of the absence, death, illness or misconduct of any clerk, or officer of an election agent of the candidate, or by reason of inadvertence or of any reasonable cause of a like nature, and not by reason of any want of good faith on the part of the applicant, the Judge may, after such notice of the application, and on production of such evidence of the grounds stated in the application and of the good faith of the application, and otherwise, as to the

Judge seems fit, and after giving the other candidates, the State

Elections Director and any elector within the constituency or electoral ward an opportunity of being heard, make such order for allowing an authorized excuse for the failure to transmit such return and statements, or for an error or false statement in such return and statements, as to the Judge seems just.

Where it appears to the Judge that any person, being or having been election agent, has refused or failed to make such return or supply such particulars as will enable the candidate and his election agent, respectively, to comply with the provisions of this Act as to the return and statements respecting election expenses, the Judge before making an order allowing the excuse as in this section mentioned shall order such person to attend before the Judge, and shall, unless he attends and shows cause to the contrary, order him to make the return and statements, or to deliver a statement of the particulars required to be contained in the return, as to the Judge seems just, and to make or deliver the same within such time and to such person and in such manner as the Judge may direct, or may order him to be examined with respect to such particulars, and, in default of compliance with any such order, such person shall be guilty of an illegal practice.

The order may make the allowance conditional upon the making of the return and statements in a modified form or within an extended time, and upon the compliance with such other terms as to the Judge seems best calculated for carrying into effect the objects of this Act, and an order allowing an authorized excuse

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shall relieve the applicant for the order from any liability or consequences under this Act in respect of the matter excused by the order; and where it is proved by the candidate to the Judge that any act or omission of the election agent in relation to the return and statements respecting election expenses was without the sanction or connivance of the candidate, and that the candidate took all reasonable means for preventing such act or omission, the Judge shall relieve the candidate from the consequences of such act or omission on the part of his election agent.

The date of the order, or, if conditions and terms are to be complied with, the date at which the applicant fully complies with them, is referred to in this Act as the date of the allowance of the excuse.

Period for making application for excuse 30a.  An application for an authorized excuse under section 30

shall be made before the expiration of the period of thirty-one days that is specified in section 23 and a copy of the application shall be served on the State Elections Director.