THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 615

by the said Provincial Council of Otago, for regu-
lating the proceedings in the said Council on Bills
authorizing the taking of land compulsorily.

THE following shall be the Standing Rules and
Orders for regulating the proceedings on Bills
introduced into the Provincial Council of Otago,
under the provisions of "The Provincial Compulsory
Land Taking Act, 1866:"-

RULES AND ORDERS.

1. There shall be a Committee consisting of not
   less than five, nor more than seven members of the
   Provincial Council, to be nominated at the commence-
   ment of each Session, of which three shall form a
   quorum; and it shall be the duty of such Committee
   to consider and report respecting every Bill intro-
   duced into the Council under the provisions of "The
   Provincial Compulsory Land Taking Act, 1866;" and
   no member of the Council who shall be personally
   interested in the matters comprised in any such Bill
   shall be eligible to serve on such Committee, and
   every member of such Committee shall, before he
   shall be entitled to attend and vote on such Com-
   mittee, sign a declaration in the form set forth in the
   Appendix marked A., and no such Committee shall
   proceed to business until the said declaration shall
   have been so signed by each of the members thereof.

2. The Committee so to be nominated shall be
   called the Committee of Reference, and the proceed-
   ings of such Committee shall be regulated by the
   Standing Rules and Orders of the Provincial Council
   relating to Select Committees.

3. Not less than thirty days previous to the com-
   mencement of the Session in which any Bill shall
   be introduced under the provisions of "The Pro-
   vincial Compulsory Land Taking Act, 1866" (herein-
   after referred to as the said Act), a notice shall be
   published in the New Zealand Gazette, and also in the
   Government Gazette of the Province, setting forth
   the objects, and stating the intention to introduce
   such a Bill, and also stating a time at which a copy
   of the Bill may be inspected at the office of the
   Clerk of the Provincial Council; and such notice shall
   contain the name of the township, district, or other
   territorial division in which the lands intended to be
   taken are situated, and the blocks and sections, or
   parts of sections, to be so taken; and not less than
   fourteen days previous to the commencement of the
   Session, a notice in the form or to the effect of that
   set forth in the Appendix marked B. shall be given
   to the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed
   lessees and occupiers of all lands intended to be taken
   for the purposes of the Bill, either by delivering a
   copy of such notice personally to every such person,
   or by leaving the same at his or her usual or last-
   known place of abode in the Province; or, in case
   of his or her absence from the Colony, with his or her
   agent, or by forwarding the same by post in a regis-
   tered letter, addressed with a sufficient direction to
   his or her usual or last-known place of abode in the
   Province, duly stamped, and posted before the first
   of such fourteen days at the Chief Post Office in
   Dunedin.

4. A plan and description of any land proposed to
   be taken shall, on or before the commencement of the
   Session, be deposited with the Clerk of the Provincial
   Council, and also with the officer in charge of the
   police station of the district, township, or other
   territorial division in which such land may be situated,
   or the police station nearest thereto; and such plan
   and description shall be open to inspection by all
   persons who may be interested in the matter of such
   land at all seasonable hours of the day, and such per-
   sons shall be permitted to make copies of such plan
   and description should they desire so to do.

5. Prior to the commencement of each Session, the
   Clerk of the Council shall prepare a list of all such
   plans and descriptions which shall have been de-
   posited with him as aforesaid, and shall furnish a
   copy of such list to the Committee of Reference.

6. The Committee of Reference shall cause three
   days' previous notice to be given in the office of the
   Clerk of the Council of the time appointed for the
   consideration of any such Bill, and the Clerk shall
   post a copy of such notice in the Provincial Council
   Hall; and in case the Committee shall postpone the
   consideration of any Bill, notice shall be given and
   posted, in like manner as before directed, of the day
   to which the same is postponed.

7. The Committee shall hear any persons objecting
   to the proposal to take lands in which they have an
   interest, and any evidence which they may adduce in
   support of their objections.

8. Every such Bill introduced into the Provincial
   Council shall, after having been read a first time,
   stand referred to the Committee of Reference, and
   every petition presented concerning the matters
   comprised in any such Bill shall also stand referred
   to the same Committee; and the Committee may
   hear any petitioner either personally or by agent or
   counsel.

9. The Chairman of the Committee of Reference
   shall certify in writing to the Speaker of the Council
   whether or not all the requirements of the said Act,
   and of these Rules and Orders, in respect to any
   such Bill, have been complied with; and whether, in
   the opinion of the Committee, the parties should be
   permitted to proceed with the Bill, or any portion
   thereof, and under what (if any) conditions.

10. The Chairman of the Committee of Reference
    shall bring up a report on every Bill referred to the
    Committee, and a copy of such amendments (if any)
    as may be recommended in it, and shall give notice
    of a time for the second reading of the Bill and the
    consideration of such report and amendments; and
    in the meantime the report shall lie upon the table.
    Should any such Bill be reported without amend-
    ments, it shall, if it seem fit to the Council, be there-
    upon read a second time.

11. If any Bill is opposed in the Council, the
    discussion thereon shall take place on the second
    reading.

12. After any such Bill has been read a second
    time, the same shall be committed; but in Com-
    mittee, no clause or amendment shall be offered
    other than those recommended in the report, and
    other than a verbal amendment by leave of the
    Chairman of Committees, who may allow such addi-
    tional clause or amendment to be proposed, if, in his
    opinion, such clause or amendment be such as ought
    to be entertained without referring the same in the
    first instance to the Committee of Reference.

13. A Bill may be referred back to the Committee
    of Reference for a further report at any time before
    the third reading; and until such further report is
    brought up, all proceedings on the Bill will be
    stayed.

14. If the Bill shall pass through Committee with-
    out amendment, the same, when reported, may be
    read a third time and passed; but if amended in
    Committee, notice of the third reading must be given
    for a future day.

15. The Bill, after it has been read a third time,
    shall be printed fair, at the expense of the party
    applying for the same.

16. In all cases in which no provision, or no
    sufficient provision, is made by these Rules and
    Orders, the Standing Orders of the Provincial
    Council for the time being in force shall be appli-
    cable to Bills introduced under the provisions of the
    said Act.