3

I.—ll

[whenever the voices are equal the Chairman shall (have a second or casting vote.

As to ParvATE Bills. 21. Private Bills shall be referred by the Joint Committee of Classification to the Private Bills Committee. 22. Any parties desirous of opposing any Bill, either for non-compliance with Standing Orders, or on any other ground, shall, previous to the second reading of the Bill, apply by petition, to be lodged with the Clerk of the Bills, for leave to be heard, by themselves, their counsel,-agents, or witnesses, before the Private Bills Committee. The Committee shall inquire whether the Standing Orders have or have not been complied with, and shall report to the House whether, in the opinion of the Committee, such Standing Orders as have not been complied with ought or ought not to be dispensed with, and whether, in their opinion, the parties should be permitted to proceed with their Bill, or any portion thereof, and under what (if any) conditions. 23. The Clerk of Bills shall give two days' notice, by affixing the same in his office, of a day to be appointed by the Committee for the hearing the parties promoting and those opposing any Bill. 24. Before the first reading of any Private Bill, not less than two hundred copies thereof, at the expense of the promoters, must be delivered to the Clerk of Bills. 25. No member of the Committee on an opposed Private Bill shall absent himself from his duties thereon except in case of sickness or by leave of the House. 20. If the Chairman of the Committee shall be absent from the Committee, another member present shall be elected to act as Chairman. 27. If any of the members shall not be present within half an hour after the time appointed for the meeting of the Committee, or if any member shall absent himself from his duties in such Committee, every such member shall be reported to the House at its next sitting. 28. The Joint Private Bills Committee generally, may admit affidavits or declarations in proof of the compliance with the Standing Orders and other facts required to be proved, unless in any case they shall require further evidence; and such affidavit or declaration shall be sw'orn or taken before a solicitor of the Supreme Court or a Justice of the Peace. 29. All questions shall be decided by a majority of voices, including the voice of the Chairman ; and whenever the voices are equal the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

Standing Obdees as to Pkivate Bills, compliance witii which is to be moved. Compliance with the following conditions shall be proved before the Committee. Notices by Advertisement. 30, In all cases where application is intended to be made for leave to bring in a Bill, notices shall be given, stating the objects of such intended application, and the time at which copies of the Bill will be deposited in tho Clerk of Bill's Office, and if it be intended to apply for powers for the compulsoi'y purchase of land or houses, or for extending the time granted by any former Act for that purpose, or to amalgamate with any other company, or to sell or lease the undertaking, or to purchase or take on lease* any other undertaking, or to amend or repeal auy former Act or Acts, or to levy any tolls, rates, or duties, or to confer, vary, or extinguish any exemptions from payment of tolls, rates, or duties, or to

confer, vary, or extinguish auy other rights or privileges, the notices shall specify such intention; and the whole of tho notices relating to the same Bill shall be included in the same advertisement, which shall be headed by a short title descriptive of the undertaking or Bill. 31. In cases of Bills in respect to which plans are required to be deposited, such notices shall also contain a description of all the termini, together with the names of the provinces, townships, or other territorial divisions from, in, through, or into which the work is intended to be made, maintained, varied, extended, or enlarged; and shall state the time and place of deposit of the plans, sections, books of reference, and copies of the Gazette notice respectively* with the several officers hereinafter specified. 32. Iu cases of Bills respecting any burial-ground, cemetery, or gasworks, the notices shall set forth aud specify the limits within which such burialground, cemetery, or gasworks are intended to be erected or made 8:i. In all cases where it is proposed to divert into any intended cut, canal, reservoir, aqueduct, or navigation, or into any intended variation, extension, or enlargement thereof respectively, any water from any existing cut, canal, reservoir, aqueduct, or navigation, whether directly or derivatively, and whether under, any agreement with the proprietor thereof or otherwise, the notices shall contain the name of every such existing cut, canal, reservoir, aqueduct, or navigation, the water supplying which will either directly or derivatively flow or proceed into any such intended cut, canal, reservoir, aqueduct, or navigation, or into any intended variation, extension, or enlargement thereof. 34. Not less than thirty days before the commencement of the session in which it is proposed to make application for a Bill, such notices shall be published onco at least in the Government Gazette of the colony, and for two successive weeks in one and the same newspaper published in the province, county, or district in which any land is situated to which any such Bill shall refer.

Notices and Applications to Owners, Lessees, and occdpiees of lands and houses. 35. Not less than thirty days before the commencement of the session in which it is proposed to make application for a Bill by which any lands or houses are intended to be taken, or an extension of the time granted by any former Act for that purpose is sought, application in writing must be made to the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed lessees, and occupiers of all lands and houses so intended to be taken, or which may be taken as being within the limits of deviation defined upon the plan ; and such applications shall be as nearly as may be in the form set forth in tho Appendix marked A. 3!J. Such application shall be made by delivering the same personally to every such party; or by leaving the same at his usual place of abode, or, in his absence from the colony, with his agent; or by forwarding the same by post in a registered letter addressed with a sufficient direction to his usual place of abode, and posted before the first of such thirty days at the chief post office in a province, at such hours and according to such regulations as may from time to time bo in force for the posting aud registration of registered letters. 37. In all cases the written acknowledgment of the party applied to shall, in the absence of other proof, be sufficient evidence of an application having been made or notice given ; and, in case of an application or notice having been forwarded by post in a registered- letter, the production of the post office