RULES OF THE LYTTELTON COLONISTS' SOCIETY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 74, 5 June 1852, Page 8

RULES OF THE LYTTELTON COLONISTS' SOCIETY.

1. The object of the Society shall be the diffusion of knowledge upon questions of public interest, by lectures, discussions, and all other available means. 2. All the male inhabitants of the settlement, of sixteen years of age and upwards, shall be competent to become Members of the Society, but it shall be competent for the Society to expel, by resolution, any person whom it may consider unfit to be a Member. No such resolution shall be passed without at least a week's notice of it being given. 3. The subscription shall be Is. 6d. per quarter, to be paid in advance. Persons not Members of the Society shall be permitted to be present at the ordinary meetings of the Society on payment of 6d. each, but shall not have the right of voting. 4. Every Member,, on payment of his subscription, shall be entitled to a quarterly ticket of admission to lectures and discussions, and he shall be further authorized to introduce gratuitously the female members of his family, and children above ten years of age. 5. A News-room and Library shall be established in connexion with' the Society as soon as possible. All Members of the Society shall have the use of the News-room. Those paying 6s. per annum, in addition to their ordinary subscription, shall have the use of the Library. Those paying 14*. per annum, in addition to their ordinary subscription, shall, have the right of taking books home. 6. A Committee shall be appointed at the formation of the Society, and on the Wednesday of in every year, to consist of eighteen Members, besides a Chairman, Secretary, and ViceChairman; five to be a quorum. The Committee shall be elected at a Special Annual Meeting, by ballot of the Members actually present. Every Member of the Society shall be eligible for the Committee, or for any other office in connexion with the Society, upon the nomination of any two other members; such nominations shall be made and laid before the Committee at least fourteen days before the election. The Committee shall give public notice of such nominations by posting them in the news-room at least seven days before the election. In case of a vacancy occurring in any office, it shall be filled up by the person whose name shall have stood next highest on the list for that office at the last annual election; in case the list for that office shall be exhausted, the Committee shall fill up the vacancy. 7. The Committee shall meet weekly on Wednesday evenings at six o'clock, to transact ordinary business, to admit Members, receive subscriptions, and decide upon the nature and order of the business proposed to be submitted to the Society at its next meeting. In all divisions of the Committee the chairman shall have a casting vote. 8. The ordinary Meetings of the Society shal^ be fortnightly, on Wednesday evenings: but it shall be competent for the Chairman at any time to summon a Special Meeting by giving public notice thereof, not less than two days previous to such meeting; and he shall be bound tf> summon such Special Meeting on receiving a requision signed by not less than twelve Members of the Society. The hour of meeting shall be 7 o'clock, p.m., and the proceedings shall terminate at latest by 10 p.m. The News-room shall be open at the same hours daily, except on Wednesdays. 9. Any Member of the Society may submit a subject for discussion, or a proposal to lecture before the Society; and the mode of doing so shall be by written notice to the Committee, to be le ft at the ordinary place of meeting. 10. The Committee shall have power to determine the time and order in which each subject shall be lectured upon or discussed, and, if necessary, to refuse to permit such lecture or discussion, provided that, whenever they so refuse, the grounds for such refusal shall be stated at the next meeting of the Society. 11. When the Committee shall have determined upon any subject of lecture or discussion, they shall give public notice thereof, either by posting it in the News-room, or in such other way as shall seem to them most convenient. 12. The Chairman of the Committee, or, in his absence, the Vice-Chairman, or in the absence of both, a Member of the Committee, to be chosen by the meeting, shall take the Chair at the meetings Of the Society. lg. The Chairman of the Meeting shall have power to Pall upon any Member who may wish to speak, and generally to regulate its proceedings. 14. The Secretary shall keep the accounts and ; thp minutes of the proceedings of the Committee and;tae Society, and an account shall be opened at the lbank, into which the Chairman of the Committee' Shall ,jig,v all the monies which may be re..ceived by th'fe'iii^rniuee on behalf of the Society.

All disbursements shall be made by cheques, to be signed at the order of the Committee by the Chairman and one other Member of the Committee, and countersigned by the Secretary. . 15. At the Annual Meeting to elect officers, the Committee shall present to the Society an account of receipts and expenditure, with a general report on the progress and state of the Society. 16. The Members of the Cliristchurch Colonists' Society shall have free access to the ordinary meetings of the Society, but shall not have the right of voting; and no person expelled from the Christchurch Society shall be eligible for that of Lyttelton.

A Public Meeting was held on Friday evening the 28th ult., Mr. Godley in the chair, to consider the above rules. All were agreed to unanimously, save rule 10, on which some discussion ensued ; Mr. Turnbull proposing, and Dr. Donald seconding, that the Committee be not called upon to state publicly upon what grounds they may refuse to permit any lecture or discussion to take place. The amendment was put to the meeting by the chairman, and negatived.