HL Deb 18 July 1918 vol 30 cc990-2

Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read.

Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.— (The Earl of Crawford.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.

House in Committee accordingly.

[The EARL OF DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]

Clause 1 agreed to.

Clause 2.

Further postponement of local elections.

2.—(1) The next statutory elections of county and borough councillors, district councillors, guardians, and parish councillors shall, subject to the limitations hereinafter contained, be post- poned, or, in the case of elections already postponed under the Elections and Registration Act, 1915, the Parliament and Local Elections Act, 1916, the Parliament and Local Elections Act, 1917, or the Parliament and Local Elections (No. 2) Act, 1917, further postponed, for a year; and the term of office of the existing councillors and guardians shall accordingly be extended, or further extended, by one year.

This provision shall apply only where the next statutory election (whether a postponed election or not) would take place before the first day of March nineteen hundred and nineteen.

(2) Section two of the Elections and Registration Act, 1915, and paragraphs (2) to (10) (inclusive) of the Schedule to the Parliament and Local Elections Act, 1917, subject to the substitution in paragraph (7) of four years for three years as the period by which the term of office of an alderman of a municipal borough is extended, and except the provisions of paragraph (10) relating to the revision of jurors lists in Ireland, shall be deemed to be incorporated in this section as though they were set out therein, and expressly made applicable to the provisions thereof.

LORD ARMAGHDALE moved the addition, at the end of subsection (1), of the words "in Great Britain, and before the fifteenth day of March, 1919, in Ireland." The noble Lord said: This is quite a small Amendment which does not raise any question of principle. It relates only to Ireland and affects only one election in Ireland; but it is a matter of considerable importance to the city of Belfast. As your Lordships are aware, the Bill provides for the postponement for one year of all local elections due to take place before the 1st of March next. In point of fact, the Bill draws a distinction between elections in urban areas and elections in county areas. County and rural elections are not affected by the Bill, and so far as Ireland is concerned we have the somewhat singular result that all the urban elections will be postponed, with only one exception, and that exception is that of the Belfast Water Commissioners, which is due to be held on the second Tuesday in March. These Commissioners are a branch of the municipal administration of Belfast. They are elected on the same franchise as the members of the City Corporation, and by the same electorate. It is perfectly reasonable, therefore, to propose that, when the election of the town council is being postponed for another year, the election of the Water Commissioners should also be postponed.

But there is another and a more practical reason why this Amendment should be adopted. The Belfast Corporation has, up till now, provided all the plant and machinery for conducting the election of the Water Commissioners without any charge to the Commissioners. The existing equipment, as your Lordships will easily realise, will not be nearly sufficient in the future, having regard to the great increase in the electorate. As the Belfast municipal elections are postponed until January, 1920, the Corporation will not require to provide any additional election machinery until the end of next year, 1919. Consequently, unless the election of the Water Commissioners is also postponed, that body will be obliged to provide its own election machinery for next March. The officials of the Belfast Water Commissioners have had no previous experience in conducting elections, and it would he necessary for them to engage a considerable staff for this very temporary purpose. It would also be necessary to purchase materials, and to provide the labour for fitting the polling places, and it is estimated that this would involve the ratepayers of Belfast in an expenditure of somewhere about £1,000. I submit that this would be an absolutely useless expenditure, and I think it is very desirable that it should be avoided, especially when this can be done by the simple change of date which I propose. If the 15th of March is substituted for the 1st of March in Ireland it will make it possible for the election of the Belfast Water Commissioners to be postponed for another year, and it will not affect any other local authority in Ireland. The Amendment, of course, does not refer to Great Britain at all. I hope, therefore, that your Lordships will be good enough to accept it.

Amendment moved— Clause 2, page 1, line 22, at end insert ("in Great Britain, and before the fifteenth day of March, nineteen hundred and nineteen, in Ireland").—(Lord Armaghdale.)

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD

My Lords, I have listened with interest to my noble friend, and I am sure he has convinced your Lordships as completely as he has convinced me. I propose to accept the Amendment, as I gather from him that it is the general view of Irish Members that the Amendment should be made, and that it will not, therefore, produce serious controversy elsewhere. I also understand that it applies only to the single case to which the noble Lord referred.

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.

Remaining clause agreed to.