1.—9

Sess. 11.—1879. NEW ZEALAND.

STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE (REPORT OF).

Brought up 9th December, and ordered to be printed.

Report on proposed Amendments in the Standing Orders relating to asking Questions for Returns, the Arrangement of the Order Paper, Native Petitions, Local Bills, Proposed New Standing Orders, and the Procedure of the House. The Standing Orders Committee have the honor, in obedience to instructions convoyed to them by the House, to report as follows: — Questions for Returns. In reference to the instruction of date 12th November ultimo—that "this Committee should consider and report upon the habit that has sprung up of asking for the production of returns and correspondence in the shape of asking questions " — Tour Committee are of opinion that the practice of obtaining returns and correspondence from Ministers by asking questions should be put a stop to, and that such returns and correspondence, when sought for by members, should henceforth be only furnished upon motions to that effect being carried in the House. Arrangement of Order Paper. In reference to the instructions of the same date —upon the question of the mode of arrangement of Notices of Motion and Orders of the Day upon the Order Paper,— Tho Committee are of opinion that it would be extremely inconvenient to alter the present niodo of arranging the Notices of Motion and Orders of the Day. It is contended by some that Notices of Motion and Orders of the Day undisposed of at the rising of the House, should be placed respectively at the top of the list of Notices and Orders of the ensuing day. The result of this arrangement would be that, when a member set down au important notice for a day which was at the time clear of notices, his opportunity of moving it on that day would be taken away by a crowd of notices standing over from the preceding day being placed above it, and neither the mover nor the House would know when that notice, be it ever so important, would come up for consideration. The experiment of placing undisposed-of Notices of Motion at the top of the list on the following day was tried in the session of 1870, but proved so unsatisfactory that it was abandoned in the ensuing session. (Vide Report of Standing Orders Committee, Journals of the House of Representatives, 3rd October, 1871.) Native Petitions. In respect of the instruction of the 19th November ultimo, suggesting that it is no longer desirable to exempt petitions from Natives from the ordinary rules affecting petitions from other persons, your Committee are of opinion that it would be premature to alter the existing Standing Order No. 285 on tho subject of petitions from Maoris. At the same time, members, being responsible for tho petitions they present, should not offer such petitions if expressed in unbecoming language, or containing charges that, on the face of them, appear such as ought not to be entertained. Local Bills. On the subject of Local Bills your Committee have already reported that, after conferring with the Standing Orders Committee of the Legislative Council, they have jointly agreed to the following Standing Orders, and have submitted the same for adoption by the House :— That the following rules'be added to the Standing Orders: 1. Local Bills are those which, not being Private Bills, affect particular localities only. 2. No Local Bill shall be read a second time unless notice shall have been given of the said Bill in the locality to which the Bill refers. , 3. Such notice shall state explicitly the object which such Bill is intended to effect, and shall have been published once at least in each of three successive weeks before the second reading, in a newspaper circulating in such locality. 4. The Committee on Local Bills shall have power to confer with any Committee appointed for a similar object by the other branch of the Legislature.