PRIVATE BILLS—STANDING ORDERS. (Hansard, 8 August 1879)

§ MR. RAIKES
said, he had placed several Amendments upon the Paper in reference to the Standing Orders in relation to Private Bills. The first Standing Order which he proposed to amend was No. 24. He proposed to add to the end of the clause words to require that, in Bills to extend the municipal boundary of any town, city, or urban sanitary district, a map showing the existing boundaries of the district, and also the proposed extension, should be deposited with the town clerk, who should permit such map to be inspected. It was of great importance that persons likely to be affected by any change of boundary should have power of examining any proposed alteration; but at present there was no requirement in the Standing Orders to that effect, and, consequently, any person residing on the confines of a town or urban sanitary district was liable to find himself included in a re-arrangement of the municipal boundary, without having any previous knowledge of the fact, or being able to satisfy the parties that he ought not to be so included. He might say that his attention had been called to this matter by the case of a gentleman who, perhaps, of all others, might have been expected to be familiar with matters of this kind, but who found himself unexpectedly included in a new boundary of the City of St. Albans, without any pre- 499 vious knowledge. He (Mr. Raikes) trusted that the House would agree to this Amendment requiring notice to be given, as these changes were now be coming of frequent occurrence. He begged to move in Standing Order 24, at the end of the Order, to add— In cases of Bills whereby it is proposed to alter or extend the Municipal Boundary of any City, Borough, or Urban Sanitary District, a Map on a scale of not loss than throe inches to a mile, and also a Duplicate thereof, showing as well the present Boundaries of the City, Borough, or Urban Sanitary District as the Boundaries of the proposed Extension, shall be deposited with the Town Clerk of such City, Borough, or Urban Sanitary District, who shall at all seasonable hours of the day permit any person to view and examine such Map, and to make copies thereof.

§ MR. E. JENKINS
wished to ask a question of the hon. Gentleman, who was, of course, a great authority upon matters of this kind. They could, no doubt, order a certain thing to be done in that House; but, in this case, they were ordering other authorities and other parties to do a certain thing; but the question was, whether the House had power to enforce, or whether they could compel the order to be acted upon, without having previously passed a Bill? It was proposed to require a map, on a scale of not less than three inches to a mile, and also a duplicate showing the present boundaries and the boundaries of the proposed extension, to be deposited with the town clerk of the city, borough, or urban sanitary district, and be open to the inspection of any person who desired to view and examine and make copies of it. It seemed to him that the House, if it passed this Order, would have no power to enforce it; and he, therefore, wished to put the question to the Chairman of Ways and Means as to the powers the House possessed in the matter?

§ MR. RAIKES
said, that before a Bill could be sent to a Committee up-stairs the promoters of it would have to prove before the Examiner that they had complied with the Standing Orders of the House.

§ MR. RAIKES
next moved to amend Standing Order 33, line 9, by the omission of the words "or Turnpike Roads," and by the insertion, in line 18, after 500 the word "relate," of the words "and of every Bill relating to Turnpike Roads or Trusts, Highways, or Bridges." The hon. Gentleman explained that this was a trifling alteration for the simple purpose of requiring copies of Bills of this nature to be deposited with the Local Government Board. At the present moment, by the existing Standing Order, the Bills relating to Turnpike Roads or Trusts, Highways, or Bridges, had to be deposited with the Home Office, and the effect of the Amendment would be to require them to be deposited in future with the Local Government Board.

§ MR. RAIKES
said, he proposed now to move the repeal of Standing Order No. 202, for the purpose of substituting the following new Standing Order, to follow Standing Order 201:— All Rates, Tolls, Charges, Duties, or Penalties of every description, the amount of Capital to be raised, and of Borrowing Powers, the names of Directors, the Period for Completion of Works or for Purchase of Lands, the quantity of Land to be taken for extraordinary purposes, the amount of Personal Luggage to he carried free of Charge, and all Charges in any way affecting the Public Revenue, which occur in the Clauses of any Private Bill, shall he printed in Italics in such Bill when presented to the House. The present Order provided that the proposed amount of all rates, tolls, and other matters theretofore left blank in any Private Bill, when presented to the House, should be inserted in italics in the printed Bill annexed to the Petition, and the proposed Order would greatly reduce that requirement. One of the objects of the Order which he wished to maintain was that, providing that where, for instance, it was proposed to take borrowing powers, the length of time for the repayment of the loan should be stated, and the quantity of land proposed to be taken for the purpose of carrying out the Act, so that such points should be specially indicated to the Committee. He proposed by this Order to get rid of what seemed a needless expense, and to relieve the promoters of a Private Bill from the necessity of printing a Schedule to the Bill.