§ THE CHAIRMAN OF WAYS AND MEANS (Mr. LYON PLAYFAIR)I have to move the Resolution which stands on the Paper in my name. The object of the new Standing Order is not to repeal or alter any of the existing Standing Orders, but merely to expedite Business by embodying in a Standing Order a modification of the existing practice. There is a certain class of Private Bills which interfere with vested interests, and therefore the Standing Orders provide that full notice shall be given to interested parties in such cases, 294 and the nature of the Bills duly advertised. When these Bills enter the House, and are ordered for a second reading, they are referred to the Examiners to see that the Standing Orders have been fully complied with. But the mere fact of referring Bills to the Examiners discharges the Order for a second reading, and consequently the day obtained by ballot for the second reading is lost, and the Member in charge of the Bill may have no opportunity during the rest of the Session of obtaining another day for the second reading. The object of the new Standing Order is that after the Examiner has had such a Bill before him, and after hearing the parties concerned, and finding that due notice has been given in the case of all the interests affected, he shall declare that the Standing Orders have been complied with, and the Bill would, in that case, take its due course on the day on which it had been ordered by the House. It will therefore be seen that the new Standing Order makes no alteration in what has hitherto been the practice in regard to Private Bills, except that it dispenses with the necessity, when a Bill is ordered to be referred to the Examiners, of discharging the Order for the second reading. The whole meaning of the Order is that a Bill should run its due course, provided that the Examiner, after having heard all the parties, shall be satisfied that advertisements have been issued, and due notices given to all the parties concerned. I beg now to move the following Resolution:—
Where a Bill having been brought in on Motion (not being a Bill to confirm a Provisional Order or Certificate) is read the first time, and ordered to be read a second time, on a day appointed, and it appears that the Standing Orders relative to Private Bills may be applicable to the Bill, the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills shall, on an Order of the House, examine the Bill with respect to compliance with the Standing Orders, and shall proceed and report forthwith, and the Order for the Second Reading of the Bill shall not be affected thereby; but, if the Examiner report that any Standing Order applicable to the Bill has not been complied with, and the Select Committee on Standing Orders report that such Standing Order ought not to be dispensed with, the Order for the Second Reading of the Bill or the Order for Commitment thereof, as the case may be, shall be discharged.
§ Resolution agreed to, and ordered to be a Standing Order of the House.