LEGISLATING IN THE DARK.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13903, 30 November 1910, Page 8

LEGISLATING IN THE DARK.

Mr Wilford had good grounds for his protest against the manner in which, in the amending Bills which are so often found necessary, the amendments to the principal Act are sot forth in the schedule. As the Bills aro now drafted, miscellaneous amendments not covered by separate sections in tho measure appear in the schedule often in xho mast unintelligible manner. Tho number of the section in the principal/Act that is affected is given and thon'the nature of the amendment. Amendments may thus appear in the schedule as follow:— Section 41—By adding the following new sub-section: — Section 97—By repealing the section. . Section 155 —By omitting the word,s and substituting the words ——. Section 179—8y omitting all the words from down to and includins . These are imaginary amendments, but half the important measures plaoed before Parliament this session contain schedules of amendments framed ia a similar way, so as to he ahsolutely meaningless unless a member has the principal Act before him, and as our correspondent points out, the task is even then not altogether easy. Legislators are not the only people who would be benefited by the adoption of Mr Wilford's suggestion that the sections thiat ar© amended should b© quoted, or some marginal note inserted to explain the effect of tho amendment. If this were done, lawyers, newspaper men, and the small proportion of the public who find it necessary to consult Acts of Parliament would be spared much of the trouble caused by th© incessant comparison between the amending and the principal Acts that is now necessary. It would simplify matters a great deal if every amending Act set forth in plain language the law as it stood in regard to all portions of the principal Act that were altered. There is no good reason apparent for putting to the maximum amount of inconvenience any person who wishes to study the law relating to any subject, but that is the result achieved by the present method of drafting amending Bills.