Legislative Council Archived Chamber Records

TABLED PAPERS
Many papers are presented to Parliament by Ministers in the course of a session, either in the public interest or required by statute to be tabled. Papers of several other types may be presented 'By Command'. Accounts and papers may be ordered to be laid before the House and such orders are communicated by the Clerk to the Premier. Some orders have required returns to be laid annually on the Table but resolutions of this nature have mostly been repealed. Papers concerning the Royal Prerogative or correspondence to or from the Governor, or relating to the administration of justice may be asked for only by Address. Papers and other documents laid upon the Table may be ordered to be printed without notice and without debate. Papers not ordered to be printed may be inspected by Members and, unless otherwise ordered by the House, by other persons. Normally private Members may not lay documents upon the Table except for such matters as reports from Committees, though this has been allowed on occasion. At the request of a department, certain departmental papers laid on the Table and not required further in the business of the House may be returned to the department. However, should the papers be required at any time, they must be returned to the Legislative Council. In other words, papers presented to Parliament remain the property of the House to which they are presented.

PRS 34.LC Registers of Documents Tabled and Inwards Correspondence, 1856 - 1914

See also

PRS 35.LC, Registers of Documents Tabled, 1915 - 1984
PRS 207.LC, Indexes to the Registers of Documents Tabled and Inwards Correspondence, 1856 - 1914
PRS 35.LC Registers of Documents Tabled, 1915 - 1984
PRS 34.LC, Registers of Documents Tabled and Inwards Correspondence, 1856 - 1914
PRS 207.LC Indexes to the Registers of Documents Tabled and Inwards Correspondence, 1856 - 1914
PRS 34.LC, Registers of Documents Tabled and Inwards Correspondence, 1856 - 1914
PRS 216.LC Documents Tabled and Inwards Correspondence, 1856 - 1914
This series was split at the end of 1914, with two successor series being created: See PRS 217.LC; and PRS 218.LC
PRS 217.LC Documents Tabled, 1915 - 1980

PROCEEDINGS IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
A committee of the whole House consists of all the Members of the House, or of those present at any time. It is, in fact, the House itself in a less formal guise, presided over by the Chairman of Committees instead of the President. The Chairman does not occupy the President's chair but takes the chair at the Table vacated by the Clerk. The House is entitled to refer to a committee of the whole House any matter which in its opinion may be discussed in the formal proceedings of a committee. Modern practice generally limits this to the consideration of bills. It is in the committee stages that a bill receives detailed attention, as the principal advantage in going into committee is the greater freedom of discussion, which permits Members to speak more than once to the same question.

PRS 203.LC Proceedings in Committee of the Whole (Committee Bills), 1856 - 1982