Document Information

Date: 1859-05-04
By: Province of Canada (Parliament)
Citation: An Act for indemnifying the Members of both Houses of the Legislature for their expenses in attending the Sessions thereof, Prov C, 1859, c 12.
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CAP. XII.

An Act for indemnifying the Members of both Houses
of the Legislature for their expenses in attending
the Sessions thereof.

[Assented to 4th May, 1859.]

WHEREAS it is expedient to repeal the Act hereinafter mentioned, and to make provision for indemnifying the Members of both Houses of the Provincial Legislature for their expenses in attending the Sessions thereof: Therefore,

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows :

1. The Act passed in the twelfth year of Her Majesty’s Reign, and intituled, An Act to indemnify Members of the Legislative Assembly for their expenses in attending the Sessions of the Legislature, shall be and is hereby repealed.

2. In each Session of the Provincial Parliament, after the present Session, there shall be allowed to each Member of the Legislative Council or of the Legislative Assembly, attending at such Session, six dollars for each day’s attendance, if the Session do not extend beyond thirty days; and if the Session extends beyond thirty days, then there shall be payable to each Member of the Legislative Council or of the Legislative Assembly attending at such Session, a Sessional allowance of six hundred dollars, and no more.

3. A deduction at the rate of five dollars per day shall be made from the said compensation, for every day on which the Member shall not attend a sitting of the House of which he is a Member, or of any Committee thereof; but each day during the Session on which there shall have been no sitting of such House, or on which the Member shall have been prevented by sickness from attending any sitting, but on which he shall, in either case, have been in the lace where the Session is held, shall be reckoned as a day of attendance at such Session.

4. The said compensation may be paid from time to time as the Member becomes entitled to it, to the extent of four dollars for each day’s attendance as aforesaid, but the remainder shall be retained by the Clerk of the proper House, until the close of the Session, when the final payment shall be made.

5. There shall be also allowed to each Member of the Legislative Council or of the Legislative Assembly, ten cents for each mile of the distance between the place of residence of such Member and the place at which the Session shall be held, reckoning such distance going and coming.

6. The sum due to each Member at the close of any Session shall be paid to him by the Clerk of the House of which he is a Member, on his making and signing, before the Clerk or Accountant of the House, a solemn declaration to be kept by the Clerk, stating the number of days’ attendance and the number of miles of distance for which such Member is en titled to the said allowance, and the amount of such allowance, after deducting the number of days (if any), which are to be deducted under the third section of this Act ; and such declaration may be in the Form A hereunto annexed, and shall have the same effect as an affidavit in the same form.

7. There is hereby granted to Her Majesty, out of any unappropriated moneys forming part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of this Province, an annual sum, sufficient to enable Her Majesty to advance to the Clerk of the Legislative Council and to the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, respectively, such sums as may be required to pay the estimated amount of the sessional allowance hereinbefore mentioned.

8. The Clerk of the Legislative Council and the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, shall respectively account for all moneys received by them under this Act, in the same manner as for moneys advanced to them for the contingent expenses of the said Legislative Council and Assembly, and they may respectively apply any surplus thereof to the payment of such contingent expenses, and may supply any deficiency of such estimated amount, out of any moneys in their hands respectively, applicable to the payment of such contingent expenses.

9. This Act shall be known and may be cited as “The Members’ Indemnity Act, 1859.”

SCHEDULE. FORM A.

I, A. B. one of the Members of the Legislative Council (or Assembly) solemnly declare, that I reside at _______________ , in _______________,which is distant _______________ miles from _______________ , where the session of the Provincial Parliament which began on the _______________ day of _______________, one thousand eight hundred _______________ , was held : That during the said session I was present days at _______________where the session was held ; and that on each of the said days on which there was a sitting of the said Legislative Council (or Assembly) I attended such sit ting or a sitting of some Committee thereof,—(if the Member has not attended on any such day or days, say—except only on _______________ days,—and if the Member was prevented by sickness from attending on any of the said days, add—on of which days, I was prevented by sickness from attending any such sitting, though I was then present at as _______________aforesaid.)

Wherefore, I am under the Members’ Indemnity Act of 1859, entitled to the sum of_______________ dollars,_______________ cents, for travelling expenses, and to the sum of_______________ dollars for my allowance for attending at the said session.

(Signature) A. B.

Declared before me this_______________ day of_______________ , one thousand eight hundred

Clerk of Accountant of the Legislative Council or Assembly.