TOWN BOARD OF THE CITY OF DUNEDIN.

Standing Orders to regulate the Proceedings of the Town Board of the City of Dunedin.

WHEREAS by an Ordinance enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof, and made and passed in the nineteenth year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Queen Victoria, and intituled an Ordinance to constitute a Public Board for the Town of Dunedin it is amongst other things enacted that the Town Board shall have power, and they are thereby authorised to make all such Bye-laws as may appear to the Board to be necessary for fully carrying out the purpose of that Ordinance and of any other Ordinance the execution whereof may be devolved on the Board, provided always that such Bye-laws shall not be repugnant to the provisions of such Ordinances, and shall be submitted to the Superintendent, and Provincial Council, and upon being approved shall have the same force and effect as if they had been inserted in any such Ordinance And Whereas it is expedient to make divers regulations for conducting the proceedings and business of the said Board: Be it therefore ordered and directed by the Town Board of the City of Dunedin that from and after the date hereof the proceedings and business of the said Board shall be conducted according to the following regulations only which shall and be called the Standing Orders of the said Board, that is to say:—

CHAPTER I.

ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS.

1. The business of the Board shall be conducted on all occasions with open doors, and shall commence business as soon as after the time stated in the Summons as there is a sufficient number of members in attendance to constitute a quorum, but if at the expiry of 15 minutes from the time specified in the summons there is not a quorum present no business shall then be transacted by the Board.

2. The minutes of any preceding meeting not previously confirmed shall be read as the first business at all meetings of the Board (after the chairman has been appointed) in order to their confirmation and no discussion shall be permitted thereupon except as to their accuracy as a record of the proceedings.

3. At all meetings of the Board (unless otherwise provided for) the reading of correspondence, the presentation of petitions or memorials by members of the Board, and the bringing up of reports of committees shall have precedence of other business.

4. The orders of the day shall include all matters arising out of the proceedings of former meetings of the Board, and any business which the Chairman may think fit to bring under consideration. Any member of the Board may, however, bring forward such business as he may consider advisable, in the form of a notice of motion, such notice to be given in writing to the Clerk of the Board, at least three clear days previous to the meeting at which the same is to be taken into consideration, and to be communicated by the Clerk to the members of the Board, on the summons for such meeting, and all such notices of motion shall be considered in the order in which they were given.

5. No motion entered on the notice paper shall be proceeded with, unless the member who has given such notice, or some member authorised by him, be present when the business is called in order.

6. No Bye-law shall be finally passed or adopted at the meeting at which it shall have been first proposed, nor until the next meeting of the Board regularly convened.

CHAPTER II.

ORDER OF DEBATE.

7. Any member desirous of proposing a motion, or amendment, or of discussing any matter under consideration, must rise and address the Chairman, and no member when speaking shall be interrupted unless called to order, in which case he shall sit down, and the member calling to order shall be heard thereupon in preference to any other speaker, and the question of order shall be disposed of before the subject is resumed or any other subject entered upon.

8. Any member desirous of proposing either an original motion or amendment, must state the nature of such motion or amendment, before addressing the Board in support thereof.

9. Any member making a motion or an amendment, shall put it in writing, and sign and deliver it to the Chairman after being seconded, and any member moving or seconding any motion or amendment, shall be held to have spoken on that question.

10. If two or more members rise to speak at the same time, the Chairman shall decide which is entitled to pre-audience, and shall call to order any member proceeding to speak a second time on the same question, unless entitled to reply, or in explanation when he has been interrupted or misunderstood, and after the reply, the amendment or the original motion as the case may be, shall be immediately put to the vote. Any member however, moving a suspension of the Standing Orders, or any of them, shall be entitled simply to state the grounds of such motion, and the nature and objects thereof, but no discussion shall take place upon such motion.

11. No member shall digress from the subject matter of the question under discussion, and the Chairman when called upon to decide a point of order, shall state the rule or practice applicable to the case, without argument or comment, and his decision as to what is order or explanation shall be final in each case.

12. One amendment only shall be discussed at one time, but if lost, another may be moved before the original question is put to the vote, but upon any amendment being carried, it shall be competent for any member to move one other amendment thereon, but not more.

13. Upon the adoption of any amendment by the Board, such amendment shall be held to have quashed the original motion, and for all purposes of subsequent discussion the amendment so carried shall be acted upon as an original motion.

14. The Board shall vote by a show of hands, excepting in case of election of Officers, which shall be conducted in such a manner as the Board may decide, any member may, however, call for a division upon any question, in which case the members voting in the affirmative shall stand up, and those in the negative shall retain their seats until the vote is recorded.

15. No motion, the effect of which, if carried, would be to rescind any motion which has already passed the Board, shall be entertained for the space of three months unless a call of the whole Board has been duly made for that purpose, and notice of such motion has at a previous meeting been given, and entered on the book of proceedings in which the passed motion has been entered, and no motion for rescinding any resolution of the Board, which shall have been negatived by the Board shall be again entertained for the space of three months, unless by consent of at least two-thirds of the Board assembled.