THE WORK OF PARLIAMENT 155

which will interfere with the property rigkts of private
persons. The Promoters of the Bill must have it handed to
the Private Bills Office of the Commons, or to the Clerk of
Parliament for the Lords; an examination is there made, to see
that the Bill is in the proper form. It then proceeds as far as
Second Reading with little debate, though it may be opposed.
If so, it goes to a Private Bills Committee of four Members of-
the Commoias (or five Lords). Procedure there is more like that
of a law court than of an ordinary Committee, If the Committee
disapprove, that is the end of the Bill; if they approve, it is almost
certain to go through the remaining stages quickly and become
law. When there has been no opposition at the Second Reading,
the Bill goes to the Unopposed Committee, of five Members,
presided over by the Chairman of Committees. Provided the
Bill introduces no important new principle into the law, its
passage is assured. Private Bill procedure gets a great deal of
work done without taking up the time of the Whole House,
and yet enables Parliament to see that injustice is not done to
individuals.

Instead of promoting a Private Bill, the Company or Local
Authority may in some cases obtain an Order from a Government
Department allowing them to proceed. Such an Order is called
"Provisional" because it caimot be .acted upon until it has
received Parliament's approval. This is given by the passing of
a Provisional Order Confirmation Bill, which is generally
unopposed, as the Department is not likely to make an Order
to which Parliament would object. If there is opposition, the
Bill goes to a Select Committee, but the chances of its being
defeated are negligible. Thus the task of protecting the individual
from injustice is shifted to a Department, but Parliament still
preserves the possibility of appeal to its own authority,

EFFICIENCY.

This completes the account of how the various kinds of Bill
become law; and the reader, noticing the length and complexity