Function and purpose
On 18 March 1959, the House of Representatives referred to the Privileges Committee, for report and inquiry, allegations made by the Honourable Member for Capricornia, Mr Henry Pearce, that Mr John Somerville Smith had circulated a lettergram stating that he, Mr Pearce, had improperly used his influence or his position as a Member of Parliament for certain companies.[1] The matter was raised by Mr Pearce in the House on 17 March.
The Committee conducting the inquiry consisted of Mr Clark, Mr Drury (Chairman), Mr Erwin, Mr AD Fraser, Mr Galvin, Mr Joske, Mr Snedden and Mr Turnbull.
The Committee met on 19 March, 7, 8 and 9 April 1959. It called upon and examined Mr AG Turner, Clerk of the House; Mr HE Holt, Member for Higgins; Mr Pearce and Mr HF Opperman, Member for Corio.
On 9 April 1959, the Committee's report was presented to the House.[2] The Committee found that the matter disclosed no breach of privilege.
This series comprises eight items. These items appear to be the only Privileges Committee files extant for this particular inquiry.
Finding aids
All items in this series in the custody of the National Archives as at December 2000 have been entered onto RecordSearch.
Access conditions
The records in this series were authorised for publication on 1 January 2001 by a motion passed by the House of Representatives on 7 December 2000. They were authorised for release to the public by the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 20 December 2000.
End notes
1. Votes and Proceedings, 1959-60 Session, p.37.
2. Votes and Proceedings, 1959-60 Session, p.76. The report was not printed and so is not available in Parliamentary Papers. A draft report is available as part of Item 6 in this series.
Sources
LM Barlin (editor), House of Representatives (3rd edition), Canberra, 1997 as published online at www.aph.gov.au December 2000.