XXV L exceptional cases a private bill has been recommitted to a Chapter committee of the whole house,1 or to a select committee nominated partly 2 or entirely 3 by the house. Unless the bill be recommitted by the house with express reference to particular provisions, the whole bill is open to reconsideraS. O. 236. tion, in committee. By standing orders Nos. 236 and 237,6 one clear day's notice is to be given in the Private Bill Office of the meeting of the committee on a recommitted bill; and a filled-up bill, as proposed to be submitted to the committee, on recommittal, is to be deposited by the agent in the Private Bill Office, two clear days before the meeting of the committee. 237. Proceedings on and after report of private bill. By standing order No. 213 "the report upon every private bill shall lie upon the table; and the bill, if amended in committee, or a railway or tramway bill, shall be ordered to lie upon the table; but if not amended in committee, and S. O. 213. not a railway or tramway bill, it shall be ordered to be read a third Interval between time." The bill reported to the house is a copy of the bill as amended in committee. The report upon a railway or tramway bill, or upon a bill promoted by a local authority, is ordered to be printed, and is circulated with the votes. Tramroad and subway bills are treated as railway bills. The minutes of proceedings of committees are also sometimes ordered to be printed." In the case of private bills ordered to lie upon the table report and three clear days are required to intervene between the considera- report and the consideration of the bill. tion of bill. S. O. 215. committee had leave to proceed 1 Sheffield Corporation Bill, 1900, 2 Lochearnhead, &c., Railway Bill, 1897 (recommitted to a select committee nominated partly by house and partly by committee of 3 156 C. J. 374. 381. 389. • Tyneside Tramways, &c., Bill, 140 C. J. 351; 142 ib. 166; 144 Chapter Three clear days, at least, before the consideration of Bill as amended of ways 215. the bill, a copy of the bill, as amended in committee, is to laid before considera One clear day's notice, in writing, is required to be given Notice of by the agent for the bill, to the clerks in the Private Bill tion of bill. Office, of the day proposed for the consideration of every S. O. 239. private bill ordered to lie upon the table. amend be moved sideration, bill. amend When it is intended by the promoters or opponents to Rules as to bring up any clause, or to propose any amendment on the ments proconsideration of any bill ordered to lie upon the table-or posed to any verbal amendment, on the third reading,-notice is on conto be given, in the Private Bill Office, one clear day pre- &c., of viously. The clause or amendment, when offered by a party private promoting or opposing a bill, is to be printed; and when s. o. 242. any clause is proposed to be amended, it is to be printed in Clauses or extenso, with every addition or substitution in different ments to be type, and the omissions therefrom in brackets, and under- printed. lined. And on the day on which notice is given, the clause 85. or amendment is to be laid before the chairman of ways and means, and the counsel to Mr. Speaker. But if any clause or amendment be proposed by a member, independently of the parties concerned in the bill, he may either give notice in the votes, as in the case of a public In 1901 the question "that the Derwent Valley, &c., Bill be now considered " was amended before being agreed to, by the insertion of words, moved by the chairman of ways and means, calling attention to the fact that the committee on the bill, contrary to standing order No. 173A, had allowed a longer period than sixty years for the repayment 2 The expense of printing is borne S. O. 217. ments are S. O. 216. 97. XXVII. When pro- bill, or in the Private Bill Office. No clause or amend- Chapter posed clauses or ment may be offered on the consideration of a bill, and no amendverbal amendment on the third reading, unless the chairreferred to man of ways and means has informed the house, or signistanding orders com. fied in writing to Mr. Speaker, whether, in his opinion, it mittee. be such as ought (or ought not) to be entertained by the house, without referring it to the standing orders S. O. 218. committee. If a clause or amendment be referred to the standing orders committee, there can be no further proceeding until their report has been brought up. When the clause or amendment has been offered on the consideration of the bill, they report whether it should be adopted by the house or not, or whether the bill should be recommitted. If a verbal amendment be offered on the third reading, they merely report whether it ought (or ought not) to be adopted by the house at that stage. Considera tion of private bill. On the consideration of a private bill-unless a motion "no amendment may be proposed, which could not have been If any clause or amendment be opposed, its consideration 1 Cf. supra, p. 495. 2 On the 4th August, 1893, on consideration of the Blackrock and Kingstown Drainage, &c., Bill it was sought to insert clauses-altering the elective franchise, and not cognate to the bill-which, under the restrictions imposed by standing order, could not be moved on consideration. A motion was there upon made and carried, recommit- 3 Standing order 207, and supra, XXVII. third amendments on been report or third read Chapter When amendments are made by the house on the con- Entry of sideration of a bill, or verbal amendments on the reading, and also when Lords' amendments have agreed to, they are entered by one of the clerks in Private Bill Office, upon the printed copy of the bill, amended in committee. This copy, as amended, is signed by the clerk, and preserved in the office. the ing; and as amend Lords' ments. S. 0.244. third read ing of bill. One clear day's notice, in writing, is required to be given Notice of by the agent for the bill, to the clerks in the Private Bill Office, of the day proposed for the third reading; and this private notice may not be given until the day after the bill has s. O. 243. been ordered to be read a third time. If necessary, on the order being read for the third reading, the bill may be recommitted.1 S. O. 219. On the third reading, verbal amendments only may Third reading of be proposed, and, in other respects, this stage is the private same as in the case of public bills; the house finally bill. approves of the entire bill, with all the alterations made since the second reading, and preparatory to its being passed and sent up, or returned, to the House of Lords.3 consent. This is usually the stage at which the King's consent is King's signified to any bill affecting the property or interests of the Crown, or Duchy of Lancaster; and the consent of the Prince of Wales, when of age, on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall. On the 20th of April, 1852, notice being taken that her Majesty's interest was concerned in the Rhyl Improvement Bill, and that her consent had not been signified thereto, the proceedings on the third reading of the bill, on a previous day, were ordered to be null and void.5 No private bill is permitted to be sent up to the House Bill exof Lords, until a certificate is endorsed on the fair printed before 1 106 C. J. 202. 209; 152 ib. 324 (Mersey Docks, &c., Bill, 1897). 2 See also supra, p. 501. See pp. 503-4. 4 108 C. J. 716; 132 ib. 245; 155 C. J. 263; &c. 107 C. J. 157. See Blackwater (Youghal) Wooden Bridge, 1866, 121 ib. 423. amined being sent Lords' amendments. S. 0.86. XXVII. bill, and signed by the proper officers, declaring that such Chapter If the bill be subsequently returned from the Lords with amendments, notice is to be given, in the Private Bill S. O. 246. Office, one clear day before they are to be considered, and if any amendments are intended to be proposed thereto, a copy of such amendments is to be deposited; and no such notice may be given until the day after that on which the bill has been returned from the Lords. Copies of such amendments are also to be laid before the chairman of ways and means, and the counsel to Mr. Speaker, before two o'clock on the day previous to that on which they are to be considered. And as the Lords' amendments may relate to matters which might be construed to involve an infringement of the privileges of the Commons, and the amendments proposed to them may be in the nature of consequential amendments,1 the Speaker's sanction must be obtained before they are proceeded with. Before Lords' amendments are taken into consideration, they are printed S. 0.220. at the expense of the parties, and circulated with the votes; and where a clause has been amended or a Lords' amendment is proposed to be amended, it is printed in extenso, with every addition or substitution in different type, and omissions included in brackets and underlined. If any amendment be proposed to the Lords' amendments, involving a charge upon the people, it is committed to a committee of the whole house.2 In the case of the Great Northern Railway (Isle of Axholme Extension) Bill, the Lords' amendments were referred to a committee nominated by the committee of selection. In other cases, the Lords' amendments have been recommitted, or referred, to the former committee by whom the bills had been considered.4 1 See p. 506. 2 Ulverstone, &c., Railway Bill, and Manchester Improvement Bill, 1851, 106 C. J. 358. 398; Christchurch, &c., Tithe Bill, 1878, 133 ib. 409. 3 103 C. J. 790. • Salford Improvement Bill, 1862, 117 C. J. 360; Great Eastern Railway Bill, 1867, 122 ib. 337. |