§ THE CHAIRMAN OF WATS AND MEANS laid upon the Table Rules for the Practice and Procedure of the Referees on Private Bills, under Standing Order 88:—
§ Locus Standi.
§ 1. The Promoters of any Private Bill, who intend to object to the right of Petitioners to be heard against the same, shall give notice of such intention, and of the grounds of their objection, to the Clerks to the Referees and to the Agents for the Petitioners, not later than the eighth day after the day on which the Petition has been deposited in the Private Bill Office; but it shall be competent to the Referees to allow such notices to be given, under special circumstances, although the time above limited may have expired. All notices shall be indorsed with the names of the Petitioners' Agents.
§ 2. Parties who have given such notice as above, may at any time withdraw the same by giving notice in writing of withdrawal to the Clerks to the Referees, and to the Agents for the Petitioners.
§ 3. The cases shall be heard in such order as the Chairman of Ways and Means shall appoint, and according to a list prepared under his direction, and kept in the Referees' Office.
§ 4. When a Bill is called on for consideration, the Agents for the Petitioners against the same shall be required to produce a certificate of appearance from the Private Bill Office, in which shall be stated the names of the Petitioners, their Counsel and Agents.
§ 5. Not less than one clear day's notice shall be given by the Clerks to the Referees to the Clerks in the Private Bill Office, of the days on which the objections to the right of Petitioners to be heard will be severally taken into consideration by the Referees.
§ 6. All notices required to be given, or deposits to be made, in the Referees' Office, shall be delivered in the said office before five of the clock in the evening of any day on which the House shall sit, and before one of the clock on any day on which the House shall not sit.
§ 7. Notices and grounds of objections will be deemed to have been sufficiently served upon Agents, if left at the Agent's Office before Six of the clock in the evening of any day, Sundays excepted.
§ Committees.
§ 8. Two clear days at least before the day appointed for the consideration of any Private Bill by a Committee of which a Referee has been appointed a Member, a filled-up Copy of the Bill, as proposed to be submitted to the Committee, shall be deposited by the Agent at the Referees' Office, for the use of such Referee.
§ 9. Copies of all the Petitions, upon which Opponents of a Bill intend to appear before such Committee, shall also be deposited at the Referees' Office, by the respective Agents for the Opponents, two clear days at least before 1896 the day appointed for the consideration of the Bill.
§ (Signed) ARTHUR OTWAY,
§ Chairman of Ways and Means.
§ House of Commons.
§ March 1883.