CHAPTER XX. ACCOUNTS, PAPERS, AND RECORDS PRESENTED TO PAR- MENTARY RETURNS. address. PARLIAMENT, in the exercise of its various functions, is Returns by order and by invested with the power of ordering all documents to be laid before it which are necessary for its information. Each house enjoys this authority separately, but not in all cases independently of the Crown. The ordinary accounts relating to trade, finance, and general or local matters, are ordered directly, and are returned in obedience to the order of the house whence it was issued; but returns of matters connected with the exercise of royal prerogative, are obtained by means of addresses to the Crown. The distinction between these two classes of returns should always be borne in mind; as, on the one hand, it is irregular to order directly that which should be sought for by address; and, on the other, it is a compromise of the authority of Parliament to resort to the Crown for information which it can obtain by its own order. The application of the principle is not always clear: but as a general rule, it may be stated that all public departments connected with the collection or management of the revenue, or which are under the control of the Treasury, may be reached by a direct order from either house of Parliament; but that public officers and departments subject to her Majesty's secretaries of state are to receive their orders from the Crown. Thus returns from the Customs, the Excise, the Stamps and Taxes, the Post-office, the Board of Trade, or the Trea When addresses have been answered. Orders discharged. Returns to be made forthwith. Effect of a prorogation. sury, are obtained by order. These include every account that can be rendered of the revenue and expenditure of the country; of commerce and navigation; of salaries and pensions; of general statistics; and of facts connected with the administration of all the revenue departments; while addresses must be presented for treaties with foreign powers, for despatches to and from the governors of colonies, and for returns connected with the civil government, and the administration of justice. When an address for papers has been answered by the Crown, the parties who are to make them appear to be within the immediate reach of an order of the house; as orders of the House of Commons for addresses have been read, and certain persons who had not made the return required, have been ordered to make the returns to the house forthwith.1 When it is discovered that an address has been ordered for papers which should properly have been presented to the house by order, it is usual, when no answer has been reported, to discharge the order for the address, and to order the papers to be laid before the house." In the same manner, when a return has been ordered, for which an address ought to have been moved, the order is discharged, and an address presented instead.3 If parties neglect to make returns in reasonable time, they are ordered to make them forthwith; and if they continue to withhold them, they are ordered to attend the house, and censured or punished according to the circumstances of the case. When Parliament is prorogued before a return is presented, the most common practice is to renew the order in the ensuing session, as if no order had previously been given. This practice arises from the general effect of a prorogation, in putting an end to every proceeding pending in Parliament; and unquestionably an order for returns 190 Com. J. 413. 650. 2 92 Ib. 580. 3 Ib. 365. 1 loses its effect at a prorogation; yet returns are frequently presented by virtue of addresses in a preceding session, without any renewal of the address; and orders are occasionally made which assume that an order has force from one session to another. For example, returns have been ordered "to be prepared, in order to be laid before the house in the next session;"2 and orders of a former session have been read, and the papers ordered to be laid before the house. On one occasion, the order for an address made by a former Parliament was read, and the house being informed that certain persons had not made the return, they were ordered forthwith to make a return to the house.4 3 sented by command, and by Act. sented. mittee in the cominons. Besides the modes of obtaining papers by order and by Papers preaddress, both houses of Parliament are constantly put in possession of documents by command of her Majesty, and in compliance with Acts of Parliament. When accounts and papers are presented, they are Papers preordered to lie upon the table; and, when necessary, are printed or referred to committees, or abstracts are ordered to be made and printed. In the commons, a select com- Printing committee is appointed at the commencement of each session, "to assist Mr. Speaker in all matters which relate to the printing executed by order of the house; and for the purpose of selecting and arranging for printing returns and papers presented in pursuance of motions made by members." To this committee all papers are referred, and it is not the practice for the house to order any paper to be printed, until it has been examined by them. No distinct reference or report is made; but when papers are laid upon the table, they are, from time to time, submitted to the committee or the speaker, by whom it is determined whether orders shall be made for printing them in their present form, or for preparing abstracts. '98 Com. J. 428. 2 78 Ib. 472. 80 Ib. 631. Unprinted papers. Distribution of papers. Lords. Commons. Delivery to members by the Vote-office. If not considered worthy of being printed, or if the members who moved for them do not urge the printing, they are open to the inspection of members in an unprinted form. The papers of past sessions are deposited in the custody of the clerk of the Journals, and those of the current session are placed in the library, for the convenience of members, and returned, at the end of the session, to the clerk of the Journals. All papers printed by order of the lords are, by courtesy, distributed gratuitously to members of the House of Commons who apply for them; and also to other persons, on application, with orders from peers. But the commons have adopted the principle of sale, as the best mode of distribution to the public. Each member receives a copy of every paper printed by the house, but is not entitled to more, without obtaining an order from the speaker. The chairman of a committee, the member who has brought in a bill, and others, may obtain a greater number of copies for special purposes; but no general distribution can be obtained, except by purchase. The rule is not strictly enforced, as regards bills and estimates before the house, which may generally be obtained by members, on application at the Vote-office; but more than one copy of reports and papers is not delivered without authority from the speaker. The Vote-office is charged with the delivery of printed papers to members of the house; and those who wish to receive them regularly should take care to leave their addresses, in order that all papers may be forwarded to them, either during the session, or in the recess. Papers in which any libellous matter is detected by the printing committee, are occasionally ordered to be printed "for the use of members only," and the distribution of these is confined to members, and delivered by the Vote-office alone. The papers ordered to be printed generally, are accessible to the public in the several "offices for the sale of parliamentary papers," established under the management of the printers of the house, and the control of the speaker. They are sold at a halfpenny per sheet, a price sufficient to raise them above the quality of waste paper; and moderate enough to secure the distribution of them to all persons who may be interested in their contents.1 To facilitate the distribution of parliamentary papers, Transmission they are entitled to be sent through the Post-office, to all by post. places in the United Kingdom, at a rate of postage not exceeding 1d. for every four ounces in weight, whether prepaid or not, provided they be sent without a cover, or with a cover open at the sides, and without any writing or marks upon them.2 The members of both houses are also entitled, during a session, to send, free of postage, all Acts of Parliament, bills, minutes, and votes, by writing their names upon covers provided for that purpose in the Vote-office, and in the office for the sale of parliamentary papers in the House of Commons. papers. By these various regulations, the papers laid before Par- Arrangement of parliamentary liament are effectually published and distributed. In both houses they are systematically arranged in volumes, at the end of each session, with contents and indexes, to secure a uniform classification, and convenient reference. General indexes have also been published, by means of which the papers that have been printed during many years may readily be discovered. Each paper is distinguished by a sessional number at the foot of the page, and by the date at which the order for printing is made, except in cases where papers are presented by command of her Majesty, in a printed form. The collected papers of the two houses contain an Their statistical extraordinary amount of information in all departments See Reports of Printed Papers Committee, 1835 (61. 392). 2 3 & 4 Vict. c. 96. 3 There is a General Index to the Lords' Papers from 1801 to 1839; and to the Commons' Papers there is one from 1801 to 1832 inclusive; and another from 1832 to 1838. character. |