STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE (REPORT OF THE). (HON. Sir CHARLES STATHAM, Kt., Chairman.)

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1929 Session I, I-18

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1929. NEW ZEALAND.

STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE (REPORT OF THE). (HON. Sir CHARLES STATHAM, Kt., Chairman.)

Presented to the House of Representatives, and ordered to be printed.

ORDER OF REFERENCE. Extract from the Journals of the House of Representatives. Fbiday, the 14th Day of December, 1928. Ordered, " That Standing Order 219 be suspended, and that a Select Committee be appointed, consisting of eleven members, to consider such amendment of the procedure and Standing Orders of this House as will facilitate the despatch of business; the Committee to have power to sit in the recess, to have power to call for persons and papers, and to report to Parliament on or before the Ist day of August, 1929; five to be a quorum : the Committee to consist of the Hon. Mr. Speaker, the Hon. Mr. Forbes, the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata, Mr. Smith, the Right Hon. Mr. Coates, the Hon. Mr. Downie Stewart, Mr. Eraser, Mr. H. E. Holland, Mr. McCombs, Mr. Nash, and the mover."—(Right Hon. Sir Joseph Wabd.)

REPORTS. The Standing Orders Committee, appointed by resolution of the House on the 14th day of December, 1928, with power to sit during the recess, to consider such amendment of the Procedure and Standing Orders of this House as will facilitate the despatch of business, has the honour to report — 1. That the Committee, has found that the work entrusted to it has involved the revision of the whole of the Standing Orders. 2. That the whole of the Standing Orders (other than those relating to private Bills) have been revised and rearranged. >3. That the outstanding alterations relate to (a) Sitting-days and sitting-hours, (b) time-limit of speeches, (c) new provisions for discussion of parliamentary papers, and (d) provision for discussion of urgent public questions. 4. That the Standing Orders proposed with respect to the time-limit of speeches have been agreed to by the Committee with a view to avoiding, if possible, the application of the principle of the closure, which has been adopted by a number of other Parliaments. 5. That the Committee recommends that new Standing Orders, as shown in the draft accompanying this report, be adopted and the existing Standing Orders repealed.

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Arising from the consideration and discussion of the Procedure of the House and the Standing Orders, the Committee has the honour further to recommend — 6. That the authority of Parliament to inflict fines and otherwise safeguard its privileges be supplemented by statutory enactment on the lines followed by certain other Parliaments of the Empire. 7. That the Civil List Act, 1920, be amended by the insertion of the words " or justifiable " after the word " unavoidable " in line 3 of section 18 (c). 8. That the authority of the Speaker of the House be extended by the necessary statutory enactment so as to include the period from the time of the dissolution of any Parliament until the first meeting of the next Parliament. 9. That the various statutory provisions requiring certain returns, statements, and regulations to be laid before the House (as shown in parliamentary paper H.-13 of 1928) should be reviewed, and amended or repealed where found necessary or desirable, especially in view of considerable nonobservance of the provisions as to the time from the commencement of the session within which the same should be produced. 10. That whereas several Acts of Parliament provide that certain departmental proceedings thereunder shall be confirmed by Parliament, but shall nevertheless take effect if Parliament takes no action in respect thereof : and whereas no procedure is provided whereby Parliament is to be made directly cognizant of such proceedings : a uniform procedure should be provided by which any such proceedings shall be submitted definitely to Parliament for confirmation or otherwise in pursuance of the intention of the several Acts. 11. That steps be forthwith taken, in conjunction with the Legislative Council, to simplify the procedure in relation to Private Bills. Chas. E. Statham, Chairman. 11th July, 1929. (For Draft Standing Orders vide Records.)

I, have the honour to report that the Standing Orders Committee, appointed by this House on the 14th December, 1928, with power to sit during the recess, at its final meeting on the sth July, 1929, unanimously passed the following resolution : — " That this Committee desires to express its thanks to the Chairman, the Hon. Sir Charles Statham, for the onerous and invaluable work undertaken by him during the revision of the Standing Orders, and to record its deep appreciation of the manner in "which he has conducted the business of the Committee throughout its sittings. The Committee directs that this resolution be recorded on the minutes and be reported to the House." H. E. Holland, 11th July, 1929. For the Committee.

I have the honour to report that the Standing Orders Committee expresses its appreciation of the valuable services rendered to the Committee by the Clerk, Mr. W. J. Organ, and directs that this resolution be recorded on the minutes and reported to the House. Chas. E. Statham, Chairman. lit': July, 1929.

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