H. —24.

1937. N E W ZEALAN D.

THE REGULATIONS ACT, 1936. (REPORT ON THE WORKING OF THE ACT.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by leave.

Office of the Attorney-General, Wellington, 10th September, 1937. The Regulations Act, 1936, came into force on Ist August, 1936, and enabled statutory regulations, including Orders in Council and other enactments having the force of subsidiary legislation, to be promulgated independently of publication in the Gazette and to make publication in the Gazette unnecessary. A limited number of regulations of a local or temporary character, or similarly limited in scope, are excluded from the scheme. By this means it became possible to issue the subsidiary legislation in a more convenient form and to make it immediately available to a wider public than those who had hitherto been subscribers to the Gazette. Arrangements were made both for immediate issue on enactment of each set of regulations and for issue in periodical bound volumes. Technical difficulties in making a large number of single leaves into a serviceable bound volume have made it necessary to provide separately for supply in loose copies and bound volumes respectively. It was decided that the bound volumes would most conveniently end with the secular year, but that as the period to 31st December, 1936, would cover only five months it would be advisable to treat the first volume, and its subscriptions, as covering the period from Ist August, 1936, to 31st December, 1937. This volume will be known as " Statutory Regulations, 1936-37." The terms of issue decided on were the following : — (1) All regulations serially as issued (punched for filing), subscription £1 10s. per annum in advance. (2) Annual volume (including index) bound in buckram, £1 ss. (3) Serially as issued and annual bound volume, as in (1) and (2) above, on combined subscription basis, £2 2s. per annum in advance. (4) Separate regulations as issued. (5) Loose-leaf binder for filing serial issues, 6s. 6d. The price fixed for separate regulations is from Id. upwards, according to bulk, and the price is noted at the end of each set for the assistance of purchasers. Cumulative interim indexes have been issued free'of cost to subscribers, covering period up to (respectively) 31st October, 1936 (first issue), 31st January, 1937 (second issue), 30th April, 1937 (third issue), and 31st August, 1937 (fourth issue). It is intended that complete indexes shall form part of each annual volume. The format adopted is similar to that of the current issues of the statutes, to which the statutory regulations form a companion volume. Up to 31st December, 1936, ninety-three sets of regulations were issued, reaching page 363 of the publication in serial form. As at 31st December, 1936, the subscribers to the publication in serial form as issued were — Copies. Government Departments . . . . . . .. . . .. 274 Other official issues .. • • ■ • • ■ • • . . • . 180 Public subscribers, including local authorities .. .. .. .. 315 Total ..769