SECTION V. STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE.

2416. A committee, connected with the proceedings on private bills, is also appointed at the commencement of each session, which is called the standing orders committee, consisting of eleven members, five of whom are a quorum. It is the office of this committee, upon the report of the examiners of petitions, that the standing orders have not been complied with, in a particular case, to determine and report whether they ought or not to be dispensed with; whether, in their opinion, the parties should be permitted to proceed with their bill or any part of it; and, if so, under what conditions, if any, as to giving notices, publishing advertisements, and depositing plans, when such conditions seem proper.

SECTION VI. COMMITTEE OF SELECTION.

2417. A second committee, relative to private bills, called the committee of selection, is also appointed at the commencement of each session, consisting of the chairman of the standing orders committee, who is ex officio the chairman thereof, and of four other members, nominated by the house, three of whom are a quorum. The function of this committee, as its name imports, is the selection and appointment, according to certain rules, which will be adverted to hereafter, of the committees on private bills.

SECTION VII. CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS;
COUNSEL TO MR. SPEAKER; GOVERNMENT Boards.

2418. It has recently been made the duty of the chairman of the committee of ways and means, assisted by Mr. Speaker's counsel, who is not a member, to examine all private bills, whether opposed or unopposed, and to call the attention of the house, and also if he thinks fit, of the chairman of the committee on every opposed private bill, to all points which may appear to him to require it; and, in the case of unopposed bills, he is also to report any special circumstances. To facilitate this examination, the chairman and counsel are required to be furnished with copies of the original bill, and also of the bill as proposed to be submitted to the committee. If a bill is returned from the lords with amendments, to which

amendments are proposed to be moved, the latter are also required to be referred to the chairman and counsel.1

2419. The different public boards and government departments are also employed in the supervision of private bills. The commissioners of railways suggest such amendments in railway bills, as they think necessary for the protection of the public, or for the saving of private rights. The secretary of state for the home department exercises a similar supervision over turnpike-road bills. Where tidal lands are proposed to be interfered with, the lords commissioners of the admiralty require protective clauses to be inserted. Where crown property is affected, the commissioners of woods and forests have the bill submitted to them. The board of trade offer suggestions in reference to bills affecting trade, patents, shipping, and other matters connected with the general business of that department. Bills relating to the sewerage of towns are considered by the board of health; and those which affect the revenue are brought to the notice of the treasury and other revenue depart

ments.

SECTION VIII. TIME FOR PROCEEDING WITH PRIVATE BILLS.

2420. The time appropriated for the consideration of all matters relating to private bills is between four and five in the afternoon, immediately after the meeting of the house. Every afternoon, a quarter of an hour before the time appointed for the speaker to take the chair, a list, called the "private business list," is placed on the table of the house, on which those members enter their names, who have charge of any private petition or bill, in reference to which a motion is to be made; and their names are called by the speaker in the order in which they appear on the list.2

SECTION IX. CONDUCTING OF THE PROCEEDINGS.

2421. Every form and proceeding out of the house, in conducting a bill, is managed by a parliamentary agent, or by officers of the house; within the house no order can be obtained, but by a motion made by a member, and a question proposed and put or supposed to be put in the usual manner from the chair. Two members are generally requested by their constituents, or by the parties, to un

dertake the charge of a bill;1 they receive notice from the agents, when they will be required to make particular motions, of which the forms are prepared for them; and they attend in their places, at the proper time, for that purpose. In ordinary cases, the motion is merely formal, preliminary to the usual order of the house; but whenever any unusual proceeding becomes necessary, notice is required to be given of the motion, which is afterwards to be made in the usual manner.2

SECTION X. TIME FOR PRESENTING PETITIONS.

2422. All petitions for private bills are required, by a sessional order, to be deposited in the private bill office, on or before the 31st of December, before the commencement of every session of parliament; and no petition will be received after that time, except by special leave of the house. In order to obtain this permission, a petition must be presented, praying for leave to deposit a petition for the bill, and stating and explaining the peculiar circumstances, which account for the delay, and justify the application for a departure from the standing orders. The petition is referred to the standing orders' committee, and, if their report is favorable to the application, leave is given to present the petition.3

SECTION XI. PRIVATE BILLS NOT TO BE BROUGHT IN, BUT UPON

PETITION.

2423. It is an express standing order, in each house, that no private bill shall be brought in otherwise than upon petition. But to this order, in the house of lords, bills for reversing attainders, for the restoration of honors and lands, and for restitution in blood, are exceptions. These bills are first signed by the sovereign, and are presented by a lord to the house of peers, by command of the crown; after which, they pass through the ordinary stages in both houses, and receive the royal assent in the usual form. The enforcement of the order depends, of course, upon the house, and may be waived, if the house thinks proper. Sometimes it happens, that a private bill is introduced and proceeded with as a public bill, and, in this case, on the fact being pointed out to the house, the bill

is withdrawn. Sometimes, however, when a bill of a private nature is brought in as a public bill, without the previous presentation of a petition, it is allowed to proceed, subject to all the regulations prescribed for the conducting of private bills, to the proof of notices and other precedent conditions, and to the payment of fees. Bills of this description are generally for carrying out public works in which the government is concerned.1

CHAPTER SECOND.

OF THE DEPOSIT, PRESENTATION, AND REFERENCE OF THE PETITION, AND PROCEEDINGS THEREON.

2424. Having thus explained what may be called the parliamentary machinery relative to the proceedings upon private petitions and bills, it is proposed now to give a brief account of those proceedings, and of the practice relative to private bills, in the order in which they occur. For this purpose, the proceedings and practice of the house of commons will be first stated, and afterwards some of the principal points in which there are differences between the proceedings and practice of the two houses.

2425. The party or parties interested in procuring the passing of a private bill, having performed all the preliminary conditions as to notices, etc., application for leave to bring in the bill is made to the house by a petition, which must be signed by the parties, or some of them, who are suitors for the bill. Where the standing orders require any document to be deposited in the private bill office, before the petition can be presented, such documents should be deposited accordingly, and a receipt therefor indorsed on the petition. These preliminaries having been duly observed, the agent of the petitioners deposits their petition, with a printed copy of the proposed bill annexed, in the private bill office, on or before the 31st day of December, previous to the commencement of the session.

2426. When all the petitions for private bills have been thus deposited, a general list of them is made out, on which each is numbered; and when the time for depositing documents, and comply

1 May, 514.

ing with other preliminary conditions, has elapsed, if it appears that the promoters have neglected to comply with any of them, parties adversely interested may then complain of such non-compliance, by means of memorials drawn up for the purpose, and deposited in the private bill office, according to the position of the petition for the bill to which they relate, on the general list. Upon such a memorial, duly deposited in the private bill office, the standing orders provide, that any parties may appear and be heard before the examiner, provided the matter complained of is specifically stated in the memorial; otherwise, the memorialists are not entitled to be heard.1

2427. The memorials are addressed to the examiner of petitions for private bills, and are prepared in the same form, and subject to the same general rules, as petitions addressed to the house. When the time for depositing them has expired, the opposed and unopposed petitions are distinguished in the general list, and the petitions are set down for hearing before the examiners, in the order in which they stand in the general list, precedence being given, whenever it may be necessary, to unopposed petitions. The public sittings of the examiners, of which due notice is given, commence on the 25th of January, being generally a few days before the meeting of parliament.2

2428. In order to facilitate the examination of unopposed petitions, the daily lists of cases set down for hearing before each of the examiners are divided into opposed and unopposed, and the latter are placed first on each day's list, and first disposed of before proceeding to the others.

2429. If the promoters of a petition do not appear, when their petition comes on to be heard, the examiner is required to strike off the petition from the general list. In such a case, the petition cannot afterwards be reinserted on the list, except by order of the house; and if the promoters still desire to proceed with their bill, they must present a petition to the house, praying that the petition may be reinserted, and explaining the circumstances under which it was struck off. The petition being referred to the standing orders committee, they determine, upon the statement of the parties, whether the promoters have forfeited their right to proceed, and will report to the house accordingly. If the promoters are allowed to proceed, the petition is reinserted in the general list, the usual notice given by the examiner, and the case heard by him at the appointed time.

1 May, 504.

2 May, 500, 501, 502.