Senate President Alf Oughton is taking advice to find out if the Senate can discuss a motion on changes to the Constitution.

The motion was tabled by Government Senate Leader Milton Scott on October 27, but Sen. Oughton said he was not sure if the Senate -- as an unelected body -- had any responsibility to vote on constitutional changes which affect the number of MPs.

A Government House spokesman added yesterday that he was unsure about whether Senate had to be involved in the process.

Premier Jennifer Smith announced the plans for a Boundaries Commission to redraw constituency boundaries, end dual-seat constituencies, and reduce the number of MPs from 40 to between 20-40.

The motion calls for a message to be sent to Governor Thorold Masefield requesting amendments to the Constitution to allow the Boundaries Commission to look at constituency sizes and the numbers of MPs.

The Boundaries Commission recommendations will need to be passed by the House of Assembly.

Normally, bills passed in the House have to be ratified by the Senate before they are signed by the Governor into law.

Sen. Oughton told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "There is no reference in the Constitution about reducing the number of senators.

"What I'm looking into is whether the Senate can actually vote on this. If we did discuss it and the Senate agreed a message should not be sent and the House said it should, you could get two guys going to the Governor at different times.

"I don't think it will be coming up for discussion for a while because the Premier wants to have more meetings.'' Sen. Oughton said he was looking at whether the Senate has the power to look at these constitutional issues and "what is the role of Senate in discussing these things''.

A Government House spokesman said he was unsure whether Senate needed to be involved in the process.

When asked if Senate needed to discuss the changes, Sen. Scott would only say: "We have an Attorney General who speaks on legal matters.'' Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans could not be contacted for comment last night.