XVIII.—
Public Petitions.
Time for presenting Petitions
259. No Petition shall be presented during any Debate, nor after the House shall have proceeded to Motions or Orders of the Day, unless it be a Petition referring to the Question before the House, which may be received immediately upon the reading of the Order of the Day or Notice of Motion.
260. Every Petition is to be fairly written,
Petition to be written, lithographed, or printed
lithographed, or printed.
261. Signatures to every printed or lithographed Petition are to be written or properly
attested, as provided by Standing Order 266.
262. No printed or lithographed Petition
No erasure or interlineation in printed or lithographed Petition
will be received if it contains any erasure or interlineation.
263. Every erasure or interlineation in a
How erasures or interlineations may be made in written petition
written Petition must be signed or initialed at each end of such erasure or interlineation by the person or persons signing the Petition, and all such erasures or interlineations must be indorsed and duly signed and attested on the back of every such Petition by the Petitioner or Petitioners.
264. Every Petition is to be signed at
To be signed on the same skin
least by one person on each skin or sheet on which the Petition is written, printed, or lithographed.
265. Every Petition is to be written,
To be in English or Maori.
printed, or lithographed in the English or Maori language; and every Maori Petition shall be translated by a Maori Translator appointed by the Speaker from time to time for that purpose before it shall be presented to the House.
266. Every Petition is to be signed by the
To be signed by the parties
persons whose names are appended thereto, except in the case of incapacity or sickness; and in that case the signature or signatures must be witnessed by at least two persons.
267. The signatures are required to be
Signatures not to be transferred
written upon the Petition itself, and not pasted
upon or otherwise transferred thereto.
Common seals of Corporations
268. Petitions of Corporations aggregate are required to be under their common seal; or in the case of bodies incorporated elsewhere than within the colony, then under the hand of duly authorized attorneys of such Corporations.
No letters, affidavits, &c., to be attached
269. No letters, affidavits, or other documents may be attached to any Petition.
Debates not to be referred to
270. No reference may be made in a Petition to any Debate in Parliament, nor to any intended Motion, unless notice of such Motion shall have been duly given and printed in the Order Paper.
Petitions for compounding debts to the Crown
271. This House will not receive any Petition for compounding any sum of money owing to the Crown upon any branch of the revenue, without a certificate from the proper officer or officers annexed to the said Petition, stating the debt, what prosecutions have been made for the recovery of such debt, and setting forth how much the Petitioner and his security are able to satisfy thereof.
272. It is highly unwarrantable, and a breach of the privileges of this House, for any person to set the name of any other person to any Petition to be presented to this House, except as provided in Standing Order 269.
Members to affix their names
273. Every Member presenting a Petition to the House is to affix his name at the beginning thereof.
274. Every Member presenting a Petition
Members to peruse Petitions
is to take care that the same is in conformity with the Rules and Orders of The House.
275. Every Petition is to be respectful,
Petitions to be respectful
decorous, and temperate in its language.
276. Petitions in the nature of Election
Petitions in the nature of Election Petitions
Petitions will not be received unless the forms required by the Election Petitions Act have been complied with, the same being certified by the proper officer.
277. Every Election Petition shall be presented
Time for presenting Election Petitions
to the House within fourteen days from the commencement of the Session, unless when the Member petitioned against shall have been elected during the Session, and then within thirty days next after his election.
278. Petitions can only be presented to
Petitions presented by Members
the House by a Member.
279. A Member cannot present a Petition
from himself.
280. Every Member offering to present a
Members confined to statements of certain facts
Petition to the House, not being a Petition for a Private Bill, or relating to a Private Bill before the House, is to confine himself to a statement of the parties from whom it conies, of the number of signatures attached to it, and of the material allegations contained in it.
281. Every such Petition not containing
matter in breach of the Privileges of this House, and which, according to the rules or usual practice of this House can be received, is brought to the Table by the direction of the
the Speaker, who cannot allow any debate or any Member to speak upon or in relation to such Petition; but it may be read by the Clerk at the Table, if required.
Petitions complaining of grievances
282. In the case of such Petition complaining of some present personal grievance, for which there may be an urgent necessity for providing an immediate remedy, the matter contained in such Petition may be brought into discussion on the presentation thereof.
Petitions referred to Committee on Public Petitions
283. All other such Petitions, after they shall have been ordered to lie on the Table, are referred to the Committee on Public Petitions, without any question being put; but if any such Petition relate to any matter or subject with respect to which the Member presenting it has given notice of a motion,
And in certain cases ordered to be printed
and the said Petition has not been ordered to be printed by the Committee, such Member may, after notice given, move that such Petition be printed.
284. Subject to the above regulations, Petitions against any Resolution or Bill imposing a tax or duty for the current service of the year may be received.
285. Petitions from persons of the Native race may be received without regard to the foregoing forms.
Reports on Maori Petitions
286. All Reports of the Public Petitions Committee on Petitions of aboriginal Natives shall be translated into the Maori language, and printed as soon as possible after such Reports are brought up.