from time to time, appoint the day on which they |
will enter upon the consideration of each Bill, and
on which they will require the parties promoting
each Bill respectively to appear; and two clear
days'notice, at the least, of every such appointment
shall be given by the clerk in the Private Bill
Office, and in case of the time so appointed being
postponed, the like notice shall be given of the
time to which the same is postponed.

Report of Adjournment.
77. Every committee on an opposed Bill shall
report to the Council the cause of any adjourn-
ment over any day on which such committee
might, but for such adjournment, have sat.

Petition against a Bill.
78. No petition against a Bill shall be taken
into consideration by the committee on such Bill
unless such petitioners shall distinctly specify the
ground on which the petitions object to any of
the provisions thereof, and unless it contains a
prayer to be heard against the preamble of such
Bill, or some or all of the clauses thereof, before
the committee to whom it may be referred, and
the petitioners shall be heard only on such grounds
so stated: Provided always that the committee
may at any time allow any petition against a Bill
to be amended, either verbally or in substance,
upon hearing the parties interested on both sides,
if it shall appear that no injustice will be done by
allowing such amendment, and such amendment
may be made either with or without terms, in the
discretion of the committee.

Petition against Bill—how to be presented.
79. No petitioners against any Bill shall be
heard by the committee unless the petition shall
have been prepared and signed in strict con-
formity with the rules and orders of the Council,
and shall have been presented to the Council by
being deposited in the Private Bill Office before
the second reading of the Bill, except where the
petitioners shall complain of any matter which
may have arisen during the progress of the Bill
before the committee, or of any proposed addi-
tional provision, or of the amendments proposed
in the filled-up Bill deposited in the Private Bill
Office.

Competition to give locus standi.
80. A committee may allow petitioners to be
heard on petitions, against the Bill, on the ground
of competition, if they think fit.

Members of corporations when to be heard.
81. Where a Bill is promoted by a body cor-
porate, individual members of such body shall not
be heard against the Bill, unless their interests
as affected by the Bill shall be distinct from the
general interests of the body corporate.

Municipal authorities may be heard.
82. The municipal authorities of any town or
district alleged to be injuriously affected by a Bill
may be heard against the Bill, if the committee
shall think fit.

Case of opposition withdrawn.
83. In the case of every Private Bill in which
no party shall have appeared against such Bill, or
where parties having appeared have withdrawn
their opposition before the evidence of the pro-
moters shall have been commenced, the committee
on such Bill shall forthwith refer it back to the
Committee of Selection, who shall thereupon deal
with the same as an unopposed Bill.

Proceedings of Committees on Bills whether
opposed or unopposed.

Copies of Bills for members.
84. At the first meeting of the committee,
copies of the Bill as proposed to be submitted
signed by the promoters or their agent, shall be
laid by the promoters or their agents, before every
member of the committee then present.

Interested members not to vote.
85. No member of a committee on any unop-
posed Bill, who is locally or otherwise interested
in such Bill shall have a vote on any question
which may arise in such committee on such Bill,
but every such member may attend and take a
part in the proceedings of the committee without
voting.

Minutes of Meetings.
86. The names of the members attending such
committee shall be entered by the clerk on the
minutes of the committee, and on every division
which shall take place in such committee, the
clerk shall enter on the minutes the names of
those voting, showing the sides on which they
vote respectively, and such minutes shall be given
in with the report to the Council.

What orders not to be inquired into.
87. No committee shall inquire into the com-
pliance with those Standing Orders compliance
with which is required to be proved before the
committee on Standing Orders, unless the Council
shall otherwise direct by special order.

Evidence before Committee.
88. The committee on any Bill may admit
statutory declarations in evidence of compliance
with Standing Orders, and such declarations may
be made before a Solicitor of the Supreme Court,
or a Justice of the Peace for the Colony of New
Zealand, or a Notary Public.

Proof of consents.
89. The committee on any Bill may admit
proof of consents of parties, by statutory declar-
ations made as aforesaid, or by admissions in
writing signed by the parties purporting to con-
sent thereby, such signature being made in the
presence of and attested by a Solicitor of the
Supreme Court, or a Justice of the Peace for the
Colony of New Zealand, or a Notary Public.

Chairman to sign plans.
90. Every plan and book of reference thereto
which shall be produced in evidence before the
committee on any Bill (whether the same shall
have been lodged in the Private Bill Office or not)
shall be signed by the chairman of such com-
mittee, with his name at length, and he shall also
mark with the initials of his name every alteration
of such plan, and book of reference, which shall
be allowed by the committee, and every such plan,
and book of reference shall, after the committee
shall have ceased to sit on the Bill to which the
same relate, be deposited in the Private Bill Office.

Chairman to sign copy of Bill, &c.
91. The chairman of the committee on a Bill
shall sign with his name at length a printed copy
of the Bill, to be called the committee Bill, and all
amendments shall be fairly written thereon, or on
riders annexed thereto, and referred to by appro-
priate marks of reference on the printed Bill, and
riders, and all such amendments and marks of
reference, shall be marked by the chairman with
his initials.