REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON PRIVATE BILLS.
The Committee was appointed on the motion of Mr. Hume, "to examine the applications for local acts during this session of Parliament; to examine expe- =illy in respect to the bills for the erection of new water-works, drainage and pitying, and improvements, according to the recommendations made by the Com- missioners of Inquiry into the means of improving the health of towns in densely populated districts; and to ascertain how far the principle of their recommenda- tions may be carried out in relation to the bills proposed, and whether any and what measures may be recommended for adoption by the House thereon." In connexion with their inquiry, the Committee perused the reports made by the Commissioners of Inquiry into the means of improving the health of towns; and the Committee's opinion is, that the local bills which have to a certain ex- tent been improved by a partial adoption of the recommendations of those Com- missioners, might have been still further improved by a fuller adoption of them. Among the general recommendations of the Commissioners, the Committee enu- merate the following—that authority to construct water-works, &c., should not be granted without a previous local examination by competent and responsible public officers; that the works both as regards construction and maintenance be subject to the supervision of some responsible public department, with authority .to repurchase them on behalf of the public on certain conditione; and that all such .works be placed, if possible, under the same local authority. The Commissioners also recommend that the sanction of the Legislature should be withheld from bills for schemes which involve an undue competition in the same locality; the general result being a coalition, after much injurious rivalry. In these recommendations the present Committee coincide.
While prosecuting the inquiry, the Committee had their attention forcibly drawn to the fact, that most of the defects in the present mode of private legislation are not peculiar to those classes of bills, but are general in their application to the whole system. This induced them to extend their inquiry into the whole system of private legislation; and they submit certain observations and recommendations as the result.
First, as to the observations. On the matter of expense the Committee consider it to be grievously and needlessly heavy. The great mass of so-called private bills materially affect public interests, and are, although local, essentially public bills. "With respect to these local bills, the chief imperfection of the present system of legislation arises from the fact that no provision is made for furnishing the Committees which sit upon them with complete and trustworthy information, either with regard to the local evils requiring remedies or with regard to the bear- ing which the provisions proposed in them may have upon the general law of the country. As the public are not represented before the Committee by a competent or duly qualified person, the Committee, when the bill is unopposed, are wholly dependent for information on the interested representations of the promoters; and where it is opposed, they have, in addition, only the representations of parties not in the least more likely to be disinterested than the promoters; inasmuch as the expenses of opposition are such as to deter all parties from venturing to undertake it, except those whose interests are directly affected by the project, and who are also possessed of considerable means. The consequence is, that, under the present system, the interests of the public at large, who have neither the means of obtain- ing detailed information as to the proposed measures nor the means of defraying the expenses of opposition are often greatly prejudiced by local acts. Besides this, there are, moreover, often introduced into local bills provisions of the most objectionable nature; some varying or interfering with thegeneral statute or com anon law of the country; some though ordinary in their nature, yet of a perplex- ing and needless diversity in form; and finally, some so contradictory and mutu- ally discordant as to render their enforcement impossible, and to make the law doubtful and embarrassing even to those who are professionally versed in it." To show the disproportionate demands upon the time of Parliament by private bills, the Committee mention, that from the Union with Ireland to the termina- tion of the last session, nearly 9,200 local and personal bills had passed into law, while the number of public statutes did not exceed 5,300. Secondly, as to the recommendations. These the Committee submit under the two heads into which the subject naturally divides itself—public general acts, and private bills. The first class relates to eases in which the necessity of applying to Parlia- ment may be superseded by public general acts, to be adopted and carried into effect under the !sanction of a responsible department, such as the Home Office, the Board of Trade, the Admiralty, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, the Enclosure Commissioners, or others, as the case may be. The Committee recom- mend that public general stets be passed on the several subjects of sewage and water-works, paving, lighting, police and watching, markets, and every other class of private bills excluding those which are in their nature permnal. That . when a locality intends to provide itself with any of the public works provided for in the general acts, a memorial for authority be presented to the proper department ; setting forth the objects, the public utility of what is wished for, the expense, the means by which the money is to be raised, and other particulars. , • In Os case of private bills, the Committee recommend that the applications be • referred to the proper departineut; and that the department appoint inspectors . to proceed to the spot to take evidence both as to compliance with the Standing Orders and as to the merits of the measure; such reports to be referred respee tively to the Committee on Standing Orders and to the Committee on the Bill. Several important advantages likely to be attained by such local investigation are enumerated,—the lessening of expense; the saving of time to Members; and the supplying of trustworthy information to Committees. Should the House not be prepared immediately to adopt these recommendations the Committee suggest that the subject be entered upon early next session. "With the view of an immediate saving of time and expense in the proof of Stand- ing Orders, the Committee recommend that, in the ensiling session of Parliament, the proof of Standing Orders, now taken before the Sub-Committees, shall be taken before an officer or officers to be appointed by the Speaker, who shall com- mence his sittings for this purpose on the let of January 1847; that every peti- tion for a bill, with a copy of the bill annexed, shall be lodged in the Private Bill
Office on or before the 24th of December; and that no bill be permitted to be read
a first time until the report of such officer shall have been presented to the House: and, further, that to facilitate this object, all plans, &c., shall be deposited and
all applications shall be made to landowners and occupiers, on or before the 30th of November. It has been suggested that the officers above mentioned might hold their sittings in other places besides London." Should the report allege
compliance with the Standing Orders, it shall be final: should it allege nonecim- pliance, a reference shall be made to the Committee, as at present; the officer ap- pearing as a witness.
The Committee next dispose of consolidation acts and the taxation of costs
On the first subject, they suggest as a remedy for the evil arising from want of a strict uniformity of legislation with reference to all private bills, that "it is ex-
pedient that acts be Tossed upon the same principle as those passed in the last
session, called the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, and the Railway Clauses Consolidation Acts. That such Acts be prepared during the recess, to effect the following objects—Police and watching; water-works and sewage; lighting; improvement of towns and regulation of build- ings and streets and roads; markets and fairs; cemeteries; bridges and ferries; harbours, docks, ports, piers, and quays; canals, rivers, and navigation. "That there be a schedule attached to each of these acts, prescribing the form of private bill by which any place or party may be put under the provisions (in whole or in part) or any one or more of the above-named.acts. That all private bills be drawn according to such form, except where the circumstances of the case require a deviation from it." As to the taxation of costs, it is mentioned that "although the fees payable to Parliament on local and private bills are fixed and known, yet the charges of solicitors and agents for promoting or opposing such bills are very uncertain, and often very extravagant." As a remedy the Committee suggest, " that a proper taxing-officer, such as is attached to courts of justice, should be appointed under the authority of the Speaker, and a scale of taxation be authorized and published by him for the guidance of all parties."
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