The Standing Committees, here given, are for Public Bills. In
re- spect to Private Bills, we think it is possible, by a general measure, to render the future application for them, unless under peculiar circum- stances, unnecessary. When the object of a Bill is limited to a parish, we would give to the Vestry electors under Sir JOHN Floe- HOUSE'S Act, or to two-thirds of them, the power of doing for them- selves what, at present, Parliament has to do for them ; and limit the task of Parliament, through its Private Bill Committee, to an inquiry, whether the provisions of the General Act had been complied with, and the enreg.istration of the Parochial Act. In a similar way, when the object of a Bill is limited to a county, or to any two or more parishes of the same county, we would leave the arrangements to be settled by two-thirds of the Vestry electors of the county or of the parishes concerned, respectively. An act could not be very much required, nor its advantages very obvious, if it were impossible to get two-thirds of the interested parties to agree about it. By such a mode of disposing of Private Bills, the only Private Bills which would come before Parliament would be such as concerned two or more counties, and embraced so many interests that it was not easy for any court in- ferior to Parliament to dispose of them.
In the mean time, we would, instead of the present plan, which leads to much jobbing and abuse, appoint at the commencement of each session, as many PRIVATE BILL COMMITTEES as the anticipated Private Bill business may demand; each Committee to consist of three members only, two a quorum, and those Private Bill Committees to be furnished with the same powers, and to proceed in all respects according to the same forms, and their report to have the same force and validity, as in the case of Public Bill Committees.
ELECTION COMMITTEES, as at present constituted, effect nothing but a reduction of the labour of the House. Their verdicts are as open to improper biases, and as irregular, as under the old system, when the whole House sat in judgment on the disputed claim. In their stead, we would, at the commencement of every Parliament, elect, from the members whose returns are not objected to, twelve Triers, who should be severally sworn to do justice between the contending parties ; and by these twelve Triers, sitting separately as Election Judges, should the settlement of every contested election be effected. We would give each individual Trier all the powers vested in Election Committees, as at present constituted,—with this addition, that if the parties or any one of them so wished, and if the Trier were of opinion that justice might in that way be more readily and cheaply and effectually done, he should have a right, in every case, to make his examination at the place of election instead of making it in London.
The presentation of petitions in the body of the House, leads, under the present system, to great waste of time, without serving any purpose of public utility. We propose, in consequence, to refer all petitions whatsoever, in the first instance, to a PErrriosrs CosisurrEE.—It will be the duty of this Committee to lay before the House every Monday, at its meeting, a report of all peti- tions received by the Committee from the various members during the previous week, classified according to their objects, and setting forth, in a tabular form, the date when, place where, meeting (if any) at which, number of persons by whom, each petition has been signed ; and, lastly, the member to whose charge the petition has been consigned; with such remarks as the Committee may see occasion for. The same Commit- tee to have power to direct what petitions shall be printed at large, and, where the importance of the case warrants such a procedure, to return to the member from whom it may have been received, any such peti- tion as seems to require the notice of the House at large, in order that it may be publicly presented.
The second reading and the report having been proceeded with, we mould, previous to the third reading, refer every Bill, public and private, to a BOARD OF SCRUTINY.—The duty of such a board would be to report whether the various clauses were coherent with each other and with the preamble ; to point out verbal inaccuracies, if any ; and confused or unintelligible, or contradictory phraseology. The Board of Scrutiny the Bill being passed, would also see that the Bill which left the House was an exact transcript of that which the House bad agreed to. Their certification of that fact would save the expense and trouble of engross- ing the Bill,—that is, making a manuscript copy from a printed miginal.
As the labours of this Board will not be directed to the alteration or modification of any part, however minute, of any Bill, but merely to its grammatical structure, and as these labours will be very considerable we deem it better, for public utility, that its members should not be members of the House, but persons of good discretion, sound judgment, and an accurate knowledge of the English language, chosen by the House or the Government, holding their places during pleasure, and paid a salary for their trouble. Such a Board we propose to consist of five members.* We would make each individual separately responsible for the examination of the several Bills assigned to him ; but we would give to the entire Board, when a case occurred that might seem to re- quire more profound exathination than an individual member was capa- ble of giving, the power of assisting in the scrutiny; in which cases, the whole Board should be held responsible for the report ; and we would permit the Board, through its Chairman, to submit any question, which they might deem pertinent, to the Attorney-General or Solicitor-General of England, Ireland, or Scotland, being members, or to the mover and seconder of the Bill, previous to giving in their re- port. The senior member of the Board would perform the duties of Chairman; and we would assign to each member a Clerk, the Clerk of the senior member to act in addition as Clerk to the Board. The sala- ries of such a Committee must be moderate, in order that intelligent and active men may be selected to form it. The foregoing apparatus is meant for the facilitating and perfecting of the public and private legislative acts of the Rouse; but there is still required a machinery for the collection and arrangement of the materials on which the House is to legislate ; to perform in a systematic way the functions which are at present imperfectly and irregularly dis- charged by Committees and Commissions of Inquiry; and to supply the information which is now sought to be obtained by the numerous returns which are laid on the Table of the House. For this purpose, we propose a
BOARD OF LEGISLATIVE STATISTICS-.-TO consist of 14 members, corresponding with the fourteen divisional Committees ; each member, as in the Board of Scrutiny, to be allowed a clerk ; the senior member to act as Chairman, and the Clerk of the Chairman as Clerk to the General Board. The Board to sit for ten months in every year; the vacation of two months to be so arranged that not more than one half of the members shall be absent at the same time. The entire Board to be subject to the direction and control of the senior Secretary for the Treasury; its members to hold office during pleasure ; to be ap- pointed by the House. Objects of the Board—to collect all facts, of
what description soever, that bear directly or indirectly on the business of legislation, whether as respects the making of new, the modifying or repealing of existing statutes, or their administration. To keep a com- plete and detailed journal of such facts, arranged according to a general and systematic plan, subject to such alterations and extensions as the ex- perience of the Board, of the Government, and of the House, may from time to time suggest. To prepare and lay before the House, on the first day of every session, a full and perfect abstract of this journal ; and to furnish to members, during the currency of the session, from the journals of the Board, such additional particulars as may from time to time be required. In order to enable the Legislative Statistics Board to perform its varied and important task, it must have power, through its Chairman, to call from every Government Office at home andabroad, from every public officer, from every public body, from all servants of the State, high and low, military and civil, at stated or occasional inter- vals, for returns of such facts connected with their several duties, as tend to elucidate any one of the legislative questions connected with the different departments of the Board. It would he the duty also of the Board to classify all such materials as have been already collected, wherever deposited, whether printed or in manuscript, as Reports, Re- turns, Memorials, Petitions, or under what other description soever they may happen to come ; and to present an abstract of such collections from year to year along with the annual abstract of current information until the whole were completed.
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