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MR. FITZROY (Chairman of Committees) moved Resolutions, providing for the suspension of the proceedings on Private Bills in the present Session, and for resuming them in the next Parliament. The hon. Member stated certain facilities had been given on previous occasions, either when there had been a great pressure of private business or when the Session had come to a premature end, for taking up the proceedings in the ensuing Session with private Bills. In 1845, for instance, in consequence of the great pressure of private business, certain Resolutions were agreed to in respect of railway Bills; and in 1847, in consequence of the sudden dissolution of Parliament, similar Resolutions were passed giving facilities in the ensuing Parliament to railway Bills which had arrived at a certain stage. The only difference in the Resolutions which he now proposed from those which had been passed on former occasions was, that by these Resolutions the same facilities were given to private Bills generally, which were before confined to railway Bills. The object of the Resolutions was to place private Bills—when the House was made aware, by the declaration of the agent and the certificate of the Private Bill Office, that it was the same Bill, and that it had arrived at a certain stage—in the same stage in the ensuing Session of Parliament. The hon. Gentleman then moved his Resolutions: and it was accordingly—
Ordered, "That the Promoters of every Private Bill which has been brought into this House in the present Session of Parliament, shall have
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leave to suspend any further proceedings thereupon, and to proceed with the same Bill in the next Session of Parliament.
Ordered, "That the Promoters of every such Bill shall give notice in the Private Bill Office, not later than the day prior to the close of the present Session, of their intention to suspend any further proceedings thereon; or, in the case of Bills then pending in the House of Lords, of their intention to proceed with the same Bill in this House in the next Session.
Ordered, "That an Alphabetical List of all such Bills, with a Statement of the stage at which the same were suspended, distinguishing those Bills in respect of which Subscription Contracts have been deposited, shall be prepared by the Private Bill Office, and printed.
Ordered, "That, not later than three clear days after the next meeting of Parliament, the Bill (in the form required by Standing Order No. 168) shall be deposited in the Private Bill Office, with a declaration signed by the agent annexed thereto, stating that the Bill is the same in every respect as the Bill with respect to which proceedings have been so suspended, at the last stage of its proceedings in the House, in the present Session.
Ordered, "That the Bills indorsed by one of the Clerks in the Private Bill Office, as having been duly deposited, with the Agent's declarations annexed, be laid by one of the Clerks of that Office, upon the Table of the House, in the next Session of Parliament, in the order in which they shall stand upon such List, but not exceeding fifty Bills on any one day.
Ordered, "That, in respect of every Bill so laid upon the Table, the Petition for the same Bill, and the order of leave to bring in the same in the present Session, shall be read, and thereupon such Bill shall be read a first time; and a second time (if the Bill shall have been read a second time previously to its being suspended); and (except in the case of Bills in respect of which a Subscription Contract has been deposited) if such Bill shall have been reported by any Committee in the present Session, the order for referring such Bill to a Committee shall be dispensed with, and the Bill ordered to lie upon the Table, or to be read a third time, as the case may be.
Ordered, "That in the case of Bills, in respect of which a Subscription Contract has been entered into prior to the present Session, provided it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Committee to which the Bill is referred, that the deposits in respect thereof (see Standing Orders 63 and 64) have not been withdrawn, it be an Instruction to the Committee to insert a Clause enacting that such Contract shall be as valid as if the Bill had passed in the present Session of Parliament; and if any such Bill shall have been reported by any Committee in the present Session, the same shall be referred to a Committee solely for such purpose.
Ordered, "That all Petitions presented in the present Session against Private Bills, and which stood referred to the Committees on such Bills, shall stand referred to the Committees on the same Bills, in the next Session of Parliament.
Ordered, "That no Petitioners shall be heard before the Committee on such Bill, unless their Petition shall have been presented within the time limited in the present Session.
Ordered, "That, in case the time limited for presenting Petitions against any such Bill shall
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not have expired at the close of the present Session, Petitioners may be heard before the Committee on such Bill, provided their Petition be presented previous to, or not later than, seven clear days after the Second Reading thereof in the next Session.
Ordered, "That all Instructions to Committees on Private Bills in the present Session, which shall be suspended previously to their being reported by any Committee, be Instructions to the Committee on the same Bills in the next Session.
Ordered, "That the said Orders be Standing Orders of this House; and be printed. [No. 104].