VPRS 13580 Private Bill Committee Records

This series brings together records created by a range of select committees appointed by the Legislative Assembly to consider private bills. Unlike public bills, which are proposed by Members of the Assembly for the presumed benefit of the general community, private bills relate to private individuals or organisations.There have been two broad classes of private bills. The first relates to charters and corporations and includes activities such as paving, lighting, etc of a city or town; incorporating or giving powers to a company; property held on trust for charitable or public purposes; Church or corporation property; ferry; gas works; erecting, improving or repairing markets or market places and the conferring of powers for corporations to sue and to be sued.The second broad class of private bills were generally presented by companies and relate to the making, maintaining, varying, extending or enlarging of any aqueduct, bridge, canal, dock, harbour, pier, port, railway, reservoir, sewer, street, tramway, tunnel, turnpike or other public carriage, road or water work.The original Standing Orders (i.e rules of procedure) for private bills in the Legislative Assembly were approved on 18 November 1857 and were amended from time to time. In 1885 they were amended to allow for the private bill Standing Orders to be dispensed with, if necessary. Under Standing Orders private bills were introduced into the Assembly through the presentation of a petition and the payment of fees. Notices relating to the objects of the bill were deposited with the Clerk of the Assembly and were also published in the Government Gazette and two Melbourne newspapers. All private bills are automatically referred to a Committee once they have been read in the Assembly for a second time.The private bills Standing Orders were repealed on 18 March 1981. The last private bill introduced to the Assembly by petition under these Standing Orders was the Bank of New South Wales Bill in 1926. Between 1926 and 1981, Standing Orders for private bills were usually dispensed with, and private bills were introduced into the Assembly without petition, and ruled to be treated as public bills. Some of these bills were referred to select committees for consideration after their introduction to Parliament, and they are included in this series. (Records created by Select Committees of the Assembly that considered public bills can be found within VPRS 11879.)The number and range of documents created by each Committee varies. Duplicates of records that were laid on the table of the Assembly (and which can be located in VPRS 3253) might also be found within the documents created by a Committee. The number and type of duplicates within the documents of each Committee also varies.The following broad categories of documents will be located in this series: -the presented petition that initiated the Private Bill; notices either published in the newspaper or as given to the Clerk at the Assembly pre-gazettal; fees and accounting records accumulated by the Committee; minutes of meetings held by the Committee; evidence or submissions considered by the Committee; other documents created by the Committee as part of its activities including minute, transcripts, notes, etc; reports including the final printed copy as presented to Parliament containing the Committee's findings and recommendations and the private bill under consideration.Most of these records have been tied together in bundles per Bill Committee and Parliamentary Session.