REPORT OF STATUTES REVISION COMMISSION.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1881 Session I, A-07

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1881. NEW ZEALAND.

REPORT OF STATUTES REVISION COMMISSION.

Presented to hotk Souses of the General Assembly by Command of Sis Excellency.

To His Excellency Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, G.C.M.G., Governor of the Colony of New Zealand. May it please your Excellency,— We, the Commissioners appointed under " The Revision of Statutes Act, 1879," have the honor to report as follows : — SELECTION OF IMPERIAL ACTS. 1 Since the date of our last report we have been able to complete and carry through the press a volume containing, according to the directions of the Act of 1879, a selection "of such " portions of the statute law of England applicable to and binding in the colony as seem to " us to be of general importance and interest." 2. That volume, which is now ready for publication, contains, in little more than five hundred pages, all the matter comprised in the fifty-nine volumes of the Statutes at Large, which, in our opinion, comes within the terms of the direction of the Revision Act, with certain exceptions indicated in the introduction, which are attributable to the probability of almost immediate legislation on the subjects excepted. 3. Those enactments only of the English Statutes which seem applicable in the colony are inserted, and all merely formal and redundant matter is removed; and indexes and tables are furnished for the purpose of making the volume complete and easily accessible. CONSOLIDATION OF THE STATUTES OF THE COLONY 4. We have prepared, since last session, 17 Consolidation Bills, absorbing 83 Acts from the Colonial Statute-book. They are on the following subjects : — 1. Companies . including 7 Acts. 2. Crown Suits. . „ 4 „ 3. Customs Laws Consolidation ~\ ,p 4. Customs Duties ConsolidationJ* " " 5. Diseased Cattle . . „ 3 „ 6. Employment of Females and others . „ 3 „ 7 Fisheries „ 7 ~ 8. Friendly Societies . ~ 2 „ 9. Inspection of Machinery „ 2 „ 10. Lunatics . „ 1 ~ (And Part 11. of " The Public Trust Office Amendment Act, 1873") 11. Parliamentary Privileges . „ 6 „ 12. Post Office „ 10 „ 13. Public Domains (including 2 Provincial Ordinances) „ 7 „ 14. Public Reserves . „ 2 ~ 15. Public Trust Office . .. .. . „ 3 „ 16. Public Works . „ 5 „ 17 Volunteers ~ 5 „ 83 Acts. Although the number of Acts is not large, it will be seen that the subjects dealt with are comprehensive in their nature, and that the consolidating measures are necessarily lengthy

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5. With regard to the Companies Act, we had prepared a draft Consolidation Bill before the commencement of the last sitting of the General Assembly This comprised the Acts in force in the colony; but, as a desire was expressed to consider the propriety of adopting and adapting the last English Consolidated Act on the subject, we forbore from reporting the Bill in the meantime. During the session a Committee of the Legislative Council affirmed the desirability of adopting that course, and we have accordingly prepared a Bill embodying the provisions of the English Act and its amendments, so far as applicable to the circumstances of the colony CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION 6. In our last report we had the honor of reporting, to the best of our knowledge, the proceedings in England with respect to " The Criminal Code Indictable Offences Bill, 1878/' and the fresh Bill introduced in 1879. We find that the third Bill, introduced in 1880, contained a considerable number of alterations from that of 1879, and we are not aware whether the Bill of 1880, or a fresh one, has been or is likely to be introduced during the current session of the Imperial Parliament. 7 But considering the amount of care and time which it will be necessary to devote to the adaptation of the proposed code for the colony, we believe that, if the Legislature should deem it desirable that such a code should be prepared for their consideration without waiting for the final decision of the Imperial Parliament, we shall be able to prepare a Bill founded on the English Bills of 1878, 1879, and 1880, before the next session of the General Assembly All of which we humbly submit to your Excellency's gracious consideration As witness our hands this sixth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one. Alexander J Johnston, ~| n ■ ■ T,r c t, > Commissioners. W S. Reid, J

Authority : Geokge Pidsbuky, G-overnment Printer, Wellington.—lSSl.