A.—No. 11

As to filling up vacancy in office of Speaker. 45. In case of a vacancy, happening in the office of Speaker by death, resignation, or otherwise, the House of Commons shall with all practicable speed proceed to elect another of its members to bo Speaker. Speaker to preside. 46. The Speaker shall preside at all meetings of the House of Commons. Provision in case of absence of Speaker. 47. Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, in case of the absence for any reason of the Speaker from the- chair of the House of Commons for a period of forty-eight consecutive hours, the House may elect another of its members to act as Speaker, and the member so elected shall during the continuance of such absence of the Speaker have and execute all the powers, privileges, and duties of Speaker. Quorum of House of Commons. 48. The presence of at least twenty Members of the House of Commons shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the House for the exercise of its powers, and for that purpose the Speaker shall be reckoned as a member. Voting in House of Commons. 49. Questions arising in the House of Commons shall be decided by a majority of voices other than that of the Speaker, and when the voices are equal, but not otherwise, the Speaker shall have a vote. Duration of House of Commons. 50. Every House of Commons shall continue for five years from the day of the return of the writs for choosing the House (subject to be sooner dissolved by the Governor-General), and no longer. Decennial re-adjustment of representation. 51. On the completion of the Census in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, and of each subsequent decennial Census, the representation of the four Provinces shall be re-adjusted by such authority, in such manner, and from such time, as the Parliament of Canada from time to time provides, subject and according to the following rules: (1.) Quebec shall have the fixed number of sixty-five members: (2.) There shall be assigned to each of the other Provinces such a number of members as will bear the same proportion to the number of its population (ascertained at such Census) as the number sixty-five bears to the number of population of Quebec (so ascertained) : (3.) In the computation of the number of members for a Province a fractional part not exceeding one-half of the whole number requisite for entitling the Province to a member shall be disregarded; but a fractional part exceeding one-half of that number shall be equivalent to the whole number: (4.) On any such re-adjustment the number of members for a Province shall not be reduced unless the proportion which the number of the population of the Province bore to the number of the aggregate population of Canada at the then last preceding re-adjustment of the number of members for the Province is ascertained at the then latest Census to be diminished by one-twentieth part or upwards : (5.) Such re-adjustment shall not take effect until the termination of the then existing Parliament. Increase of number of House of Commons. 52. The number of Members of the House of Commons may be from time to time increased by the Parliament of Canada, provided the proportionate representation of the Provinces prescribed by this Act is not thereby disturbed. Money Votes; Royal Assent. Appropriation and Tax Bills. 53. Bills for appropriating any part of the Public Revenue, or for imposing any Tax or Impost, shall originate in the House of Commons. Eecommendation of Money Votes. 54. It shall not be lawful for the House of Commons to adopt or pass any Vote, Resolution, Address, or Bill for the appropriation of any part of the Public Revenue, or of any Tax or Impost, to any purpose that has not been first recommended to that House by Message of the Governor-General in the Session in which such Vote, Resolution, Address, or Bill is proposed. Royal Assent to Bills, &c. 55. Where a Bill passed by the Houses of Parliament is presented to the Governor-General for the Queen's assent, he shall declare, according to his discretion, but subject to the provisions of this Act and to Her Majesty's instructions, either that he assents thereto in the Queen's name, or that he withholds the Queen's assent, or that he reserves the Bill for the signification of the Queen's pleasure. Disallowance by Order in Council of Act assented to by Governor-General. 56. Where the Governor-General assents to a Bill in the Queen's name, he shall by the first convenient opportunity send an authentic copy of the Act to one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and if the Queen in Council within two years after receipt thereof by the Secretary of State thinks fit to disallow the Act, such disallowance (with a certificate of the Secretary of State of the day on which the Act was received by him) being signified by the Governor-General, by Speech or Message to each of the Houses of Parliament or by Proclamation, shall annul the Act from and after the day of such signification. Signification of Queen's pleasure on Bill reserved. 57. A Bill reserved for the signification of the Queen's pleasure shall not have any force unless and until, within two years from the day on which it was presented to the Governor-General for the

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THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, 1867.