ing, and from time to time afterwards, as occasion may require, shall prepare and adopt such standing rules and orders as may be best adapted for the orderly conduct of the business of such Council, which rules and orders shall be laid before the Superintendent, and being by him approved shall then become binding and in force.

XXV. It shall not be lawful for any Provincial Council to pass, or for the Superintendent to assent to any bill appropriating any money to the public service, unless the Superintendent shall first have recommended to the Council to make provision for the specific service to which such money is to be appropriated; and no such money shall be issued or be made issuable except by warrants to be granted by the Superintendent.

XXVI. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent to transmit to the Provincial Council, for their consideration, the drafts of any such laws or ordinances as it may appear to him desirable to introduce, and all such drafts shall be taken into consideration in such convenient manner as in and by such rules and orders as aforesaid shall be in that behalf provided.

XXVII. Every bill passed by the Provincial Council shall be presented to the Superintendent for the Governor's assent, and the superintendent shall declare, according to his discretion, (but subject nevertheless to the provisions herein contained, and to such instructions as may from time to time be given him by the Governor,) that he assents to such bill on behalf of the Governor, or that he withholds the assent of the Governor, or that he reserves such bill for the signification of the Governor's pleasure thereon: provided always, that it shall and may be lawful for the Superintendent, before declaring his

pleasure in regard to any bill so presented to him, to make such amendments in such bill as he thinks needful or expedient, and to return such bill with such amendments to such Council, and the consideration of such amendments by such Council shall take place in such convenient manner as shall in and by the rules and orders aforesaid be in that behalf provided: provided also, that all bills altering or affecting the extent of the several electoral districts which shall be represented in the Provincial Council, or establishing new or other such electoral districts, or altering the number of the members of such Council to be chosen by the said districts respectively, or altering the number of the members of such Council, or altering the limits of any town or establishing any new town, shall be so reserved as aforesaid.

XXVIII. Whenever any bill shall have been assented to by the Superintendent as aforesaid, the Superintendent shall forthwith transmit to the Governor an authentic copy thereof.

XXIX. It shall be lawful for the Governor at any time within three months after any such bill shall have been received by him to declare by proclamation his disallowance of such bill; and such disallowance shall make void and annul the same from and after the day of the date of such proclamation or any subsequent day to be named therein.

XXX. No bill which shall be reserved for the signification of the assent of the Governor shall have any force or authority within the Province until the Superintendent shall signify either by speech or message to the Provincial Council, or by proclamation in the Government Gazette, that such bill has been laid before the Governor, and that the Governor has assented to the same; and an entry shall be

made in the journals of the Provincial Council of every such speech, message, or proclamation, and a duplicate thereof, duly attested, shall be delivered to the registrar of the Supreme Court, or other proper officer, to be kept among the records of the Province; and no bill which shall be so reserved as aforesaid shall have any force or authority within the Province unless the assent of the Governor thereto shall have been so signified as aforesaid within three months next after the day on which such bill shall have been presented to the Superintendent for the Governor's assent.

XXXI. It shall be lawful for the Governor from time to time to transmit to the Superintendent of any Province, for his guidance in assenting to or withholding assent from bills, or reserving the same for the signification of the Governor's pleasure thereon, such instructions as to the Governor shall seem fit; and it shall be the duty of the Superintendent to act in obedience to such instructions.

XXXII. There shall be within the Colony of New Zealand a General Assembly, to consist of the Governor, a Legislative Council, and House of Representatives.

XXXIII. For constituting the Legislative Council of New Zealand it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, before the time to be appointed for the first meeting of the general assembly, by an instrument under her royal sign manual, to authorize the Governor in Her Majesty's name to summon to the said Legislative Council such persons, being not less in number than ten, as Her Majesty shall think fit; and it shall also be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time in like manner to authorize the Governor to summon to the said Legislative Council such other person or persons as Her Majesty shall think fit, either for supplying any vacancy or vacancies or otherwise; and every

person who shall be so summoned shall thereby become a member of the said Legislative Council: Provided always, that no person shall be summoned to such Legislative Council who shall not be of the full age of twentyone years, and a natural born subject of Her Majesty, or a subject of Her Majesty naturalized by Act of Parliament, or by an Act of the Legislature of New Zealand.

XXXIV. Every member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand shall hold his seat therein for the term of his life, subject nevertheless to the provisions hereinafter contained for vacating the same.

XXXV. It shall be lawful for any member of the said Legislative Council, by writing under his hand addressed to the Governor, to resign his seat in the said Council; and upon such resignation and acceptance thereof by the Governor the seat of such member shall become vacant.

XXXVI. If any Legislative Councillor of New Zealand shall for two successive sessions of the General Assembly, without the permission of Her Majesty or of the Governor, signified by the said Governor to the Legislative Council, fail to give his attendance in the said Legislative Council, or shall take any oath or make any declaration or acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to any foreign prince or power, or shall do, concur in, or adopt any Act whereby he may become a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power, or become entitled to the rights, privileges, or immunities of a subject or citizen of any foreign State or Power, or shall become bankrupt, or shall become an insolvent debtor within the meaning of the laws relating to insolvent debtors, or shall become a public defaulter, or be attainted of treason, or

be convicted of felony or any infamous crime, his seat in such Council shall thereby become vacant.

XXXVII. Any question which shall arise respecting any vacancy in the said Legislative Council on occasion of any of the matters aforesaid shall be referred by the Governor to the said Legislative Council to be by the said Legislative Council heard and determined: Provided always, that it shall be lawful, either for the person respecting whose seat such question shall have arisen, or for Her Majesty's Attorney General for New Zealand on Her Majesty's behalf, to appeal from the determination of the said Council in such case to Her Majesty; and the judgment of Her Majesty given with the advice of her Privy Council thereon shall be final and conclusive to all intents and purposes.

XXXVIII. The Governor shall have the power and authority from time to time to appoint one member of the said Legislative Council to be speaker of such Council, and to remove him and appoint another in his stead.

XXXIX. The presence of at least five members of the said Legislative Council, including the speaker, shall be necessary to constitute a meeting for the exercise of its powers; and all questions which shall arise in the said Legislative Council shall be decided by a majority of votes of the members present other than the speaker; and when the votes shall be equal the speaker shall have the casting

vote.

XL. For the purpose of constituting the House of Representatives of New Zealand it shall be lawful for the Governor, within the time hereinafter mentioned, and thereafter from time to time as occasion shall require, by proclamation in Her Majesty's name, to summon and call together a House of Representatives in and for New