(1) Where the return and declarations respecting election expenses of a candidate at an election have not been transmitted as required by this Ordinance, or being transmitted contain some error or false statement, then-

(a) if the candidate in any criminal or civil proceedingsunder this Ordinance proves to the satisfaction of the court 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 or misconduct of his election agent or of any clerk or officer of such agent, or by reason of inadvertence, orof any reasonable cause of a like nature, and not by reason of any want of good faith on the part of the candidate; or

(b) if the election agent of the candidate proves to the satisfaction of the court that the failure to transmit the return and declarations 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 or illness of any prior election agent of thecandidate 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 ofany reasonable cause of a like nature, and not by reason of any want of good faith on the part of the election agent, the court may, after giving the Attorney General an opportunity of being heard, make such order for allowing an authorized excuse for the failure to transmit such return and declarations, or for an error or false statement in such return and declarations, as to the court seems just.

(2) Where in any proceedings it appears to the court that any person being or having been election agent has refused or failed tomake such return or to supply such particulars as will enable the candidate and his election agent, respectively, to comply with the provisions of this Ordinance as to the return and declaration respecting election expenses, the court, before making an order allowing the excuse as in this article mentioned, shall order such person to appear, and shall, unless he attends, and shows cause to the contrary, order him to make the return and declaration, or to deliver a statement of the particulars required to be contained in the return, as to the court seems just, and to make or deliver the same within such time and to such person and in such manner as the court 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.

(3) The court may allow the excuse conditionally upon the making of a return and declaration in a modified form or within an extended time, and upon the compliance with such other terms as to the court, seem best calculated for carrying into effect the objects of this Ordinance; and an order allowing an authorized excuse shall relieve the candidate or the election agent, as the case may be, from any liability or consequences under this Ordinance in respect of the matter excused by the order; and where it is proved by the candidate to the court that any act or omission of the election agent in relation to the return and declaration 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 court shall relieve the candidate from the consequences of such act or omission on the part of his election agent.

(4) 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 Ordinance as the date of the allowance of the excuse.