CO129-164 - Sir Kennedy - 1873 [7-9] — Page 184

STANDING ORDERS AND RULES

FOR

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF HONGKONG.

9 SEP

1873

182

I

:

GENERAL RULES.

I. Two Days' notice shall be given of any Meeting of Council to each Member by the Clerk of Councils; but should circumstances occur to render a Meeting on any day appointed for the same inconvenient, the Council may be adjourned to such early day as the Governor shall appoint, by a notice in writing, to be trausiaitted to each Member by the Clerk one day prior to the period which had been appointed; and in cases of urgency, the Governor may dispense with the necessity of the two days' notice.

II. The Hour of Meeting, except under special circumstances, shall be at Noon; and if any Member shall move that the Council do adjourn, and if such motion be seconded, it shall be put to the vote.

III. No Member shall absent himself from Council, without communicating to the Governor his inability to attend.

IV. As soon as Five Members, exclusive of the Governor, shall be present after the hour appointed for the Meeting of Council, the Governor shall take the Chair, and will direct the Clerk to read the Minutes of the last Meeting, which, having been approved or corrected, if necessary, are to be confirmed by the Governor.

V. Should a Quorum of Members not be present at the expiration of Fifteen Minutes from the time for which the Council shall have been summoned on any particular day, the Meeting shall stand adjourned to Noon on the next following day, not being a Sunday or a Public Holiday-notice of the said adjournment to be sent by the Clerk to the Members.

VI. Any Member desiring the Minutes to be corrected, shall propose such correction immediately after the Minutes are read, and sneh correction shall be forthwith admitted or rejected by the Council.

VII. A Book called "The Order Book" shall be kept by the Clerk, and therein shall be inserted a notice of all original Propositions, intended to be submitted by any Member through the Governor to the Council, in the order of priority of time at which the same shall have been transmitted. Measures proceeding originally from the Governor, need not be inserted in the Order Book.

VIII. With the exception of Questions of Privilege, which shall take prece dence of all others, all business shall be taken in the order in which it appears in the Order Book; unless, on motion made by permission of the Governor, and carried, preference be given to any particular subject.