H.—2l

1876. NEW ZEALAND.

MODE OF CONDUCTING PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS IN VICTORIA, (REPORT BY THE CLERK, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, ON THE).

,— . Presented to loth Mouses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Hon. "W. Fitzheejbeet, Speaker, to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaby. Sic, — House of Representatives, "Wellington, 11th July, 1876. I have the honor to transmit to you copy of a. report which the Clerk of the House of Eepresentatives has forwarded to me on certain matters connected with the business of the House. I understand that he was commissioned by my predecessor in office, Sir P. D. Bell, to proceed to Victoria and make inquiries and report. There are many subjects referred to of considerable interest, and I suggest to you that it would be desirable that this report should be laid upon the table of the House. I have, &c., "William Fitzhebbebt, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, &c, .fee, &c. Speaker.

The Clebk of the House of Bepbesentatives to the Hon. the Speakee of the House of Bepeesentatives. Sic,— "Wellington, 30th June, 1876. In conformity with the instructions conveyed to me by Sir ]P. Dillon Bell, at the close of last Session, namely,— " That with a view to the organization of the service of the House on a better footing, to meet the rapidly increasing amount of work in each Session, I have now to instruct you to proceed to Melbourne and make yourself thoroughly acquainted with the course of proceeding adopted in the offices of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, especially with reference to the division of the work between the Chief Clerk and the Clerk's Assistant, and the way in which the ordinary sessional extra clerks' work is regulated, and the proceedings of Select Committees dealt with in that colony. " So soon as you have completed your inquiry into these matters, you will be good enough to report to me, in order that a plan may be devised, in time for the meeting of the next Parliament, to remedy the various inconveniences to which the great increase of duties in the offices of this House has subjected the servants of the House for the last two or three years." I have now the honor to report that I accordingly proceeded to Melbourne and waited upon the Hon. the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, who most kindly afforded me every facility for observing the mode of procedure of that House, as also the manner of conducting the business in the various departments connected with it. Before proceeding further, I would desire to call attention to the different circumstances in which the two Legislatures are placed as regards the duration of the Session in Victoria. It extends over a great part of the year ; in New Zealand the Legislature meets in the middle of winter, and it has generally been found difficult to keep a quorum together after the end of October, the consequence being a very great pressure of work. There they usually sit only three days in the week ; here we sit four, and towards the end of the Session five days a week. I also subjoin a comparative statement of the amount of business that is transacted by the Lower House in each colony, in certain particulars. I have taken an average of the four years 1871 to 1874, and during that time the Victorian Session extended over • a period of about seven months, and the JJew Zealand Session was rather under three months.