Legislative Council Printed 'Parliamentary Papers' and their indexes

The 'Parliamentary Papers' are comprised of all papers tabled in either or both Houses which have been ordered to be printed. At the end of every parliamentary session these are brought together in bound volumes; the first volume of the sessional set for the Legislative Council is the 'Journal of the Legislative Council'. The 'Journals' are the daily accounts of the business dealt with by the Council at each sitting. As well, the 'Journals' contain sessional registers of bills, addresses and orders for papers, standing and select committees appointed, and alphabetical lists of the Members of the Legislative Council.

The remainder of the sessional set of volumes is the 'Parliamentary Papers' proper. These volumes contain reports presented pursuant to statute (usually departmental annual reports); reports presented by command, which are reports the Government decides on its own initiative to lay before Parliament; petitions, of which the text is printed and the signatures are not; and reports of parliamentary committees. It is now becoming the practice not to print the evidence of select committees. All tabled papers, including those not ordered to be printed, may be found in the series PRS 216.LC, Documents Tabled and Correspondence, 1856 - 1914,� and PRS 217.LC, Documents Tabled, 1915 - 1980 (description below, page 39). It must be noted that it is possible that some of them have not survived.

Every sessional set has its own index, and there is also a Consolidated Index for the period 1856 - 1954. This is in five volumes and is invaluable not only for Council papers but for Assembly papers as well. It is much more than an index to the papers as it gives newspaper and 'Hansard' references, and references to the records of the Council. It is the:

�'Consolidated Index to the Minutes of Proceedings and Printed Papers�
�of the Legislative Council':
� Volume 1: 1856 - 1874
� Volume 2: 1874 - 1893
� Volume 3: 1894 - 1913
� Volume 4: 1914 - 1934

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