§ (Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Gregory, Mr. Edward Leatham, Mr. Samuel Morley.)
§ [BILL 5.] COMMITTEE.
§ [Progress 13th May.]
§ Bill considered in Committee.
§ (In the Committee.)
§ Clause 6 (Penalty for omission to make annual returns).
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, when last in Committee Progress was reported on this clause to allow of Amendments at the suggestion of the hon. Member (Mr. Hutchinson); and he had now to move in page 3, line 9, to leave out the word "ten" and insert "twenty-five."
§ Amendment agreed to; words substituted accordingly.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, that steps must be taken that registration should take place, and the order not being complied with, the penalty followed as a matter of course. He moved that in page 3, line 1979 9, after the word "pounds," these words be inserted—
And also to be directed by a summary order to make a return within a specified time.
§ Amendment agreed to; words inserted accordingly.
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to, and ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Clause 7 (Power to party to make return) agreed to.
§ Clause 8 (Penalty for wilful misrepresentation in or omission from return).
TEE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, it had been thought well to increase the penalty in those cases where the Act was evaded by the making of a false Return; and, therefore, he would move in page 3, line 28, to leave out "twenty" and insert "one hundred."
§ Amendment agreed to; words substituted accordingly.
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to, and ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Clause 9 (Registrar to enter returns in register).
§ MR. HUTCHINSONmoved, as an Amendment, in page 3, line 31, to leave out "a book," and insert "books." That, and other Amendments following, were Departmental Amendments, inserted at the instance of the Board of Trade. He accepted them, and, in the absence of the Secretary to the Board, moved them.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, he did not quite understand the object. The singular would be taken to include the plural; but the Amendment would mean that every return should be entered in books, and he did not see how that could be carried out. As it was not clear what was the object of these Amendments, they had better be allowed to stand over until Report.
§ MR. HUTCHINSONsaid, he was not prepared to defend the Amendments. They were proposed at the instance of the Board of Trade, in accordance with the usual recommendation.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Clause agreed to, and ordered to stand part of the Bill.
1980§ Clause 10 (Fees payable for registrar's services).
§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHmoved, as an Amendment, in page 4, line 3, after the words "Board of Trade," to insert "with the approval of the Treasury."
§ Amendment agreed to; words inserted accordingly.
§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHmoved, as an Amendment, in page 4, line 8, to leave out "Board of Trade," and insert "Treasury."
§ Amendment agreed to; words substituted accordingly.
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to, and ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Remaining clauses agreed to, without Amendment, and ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ MR. LABOUCHERE,in moving, in page 2, after Clause 3, to insert the following Clause:—
A court of summary jurisdiction, upon the hearing of a charge against a proprietor, publisher, or editor, or any person responsible for the publication of a newspaper, for a libel published therein, may receive evidence as to the publication being for the public benefit, and as to the matters charged in the libel being true, and as to the report being fair and accurate, and published without malice, and as to any matter which under this or any other Act, or otherwise, might be given in evidence by way of defence by the person charged on his trial or indictment, and the Court, if of opinion after hearing such evidence that there is a strong or probable presumption that the jury on the trial would acquit the person charged, may dismiss the case,said, it was not necessary to speak to the clause. It was assented to by the Government and by the hon. Member for Halifax (Mr. Hutchinson). It was to enable the magistrate to dismiss the case if he liked, or commit it, or deal with it in a summary fashion. He moved the addition of the new clause.
§ New Clause (Enquiry by court of summary jurisdiction as to libel being for public benefit or being true), brought up, read a first and second time, and added to the Bill.
§ MR. LABOUCHEREmoved the insertion of the following new Clause:—
Every libel or alleged libel, and every offence under this Act, shall be deemed to be an offence within and subject to the provisions of 1981 the Act of the Session of the twenty-second and twenty-third years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventeen, intituled an Act to prevent vexatious indictments for certain misdemeanours, and when any person is charged with any such offence before any justice or justices, such justice or justices shall take into consideration any evidence adduced before him or them tending to show that the act charged was not committed with a guilty intent.
§ New Clause (22 and 23 Vic. c. 17, made applicable to this Act), brought up, and read a first time.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Clause be read a second time."
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, he must object to the last words of the clause for one reason, because it seemed to define what should or should not come within the Act as misdemeanours. He would accept the clause with the words after "misdemeanours" struck out. It was an error in drafting to insert them.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Motion made, and Question, "That the Clause be amended by the omission of the words after 'misdemeanours' to end of Clause," put, and agreed to.
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to, and added to the Bill.
§ MR. LABOUCHERE,in moving the insertion of the following new Clause:—
Where, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, inconvenience would arise or be caused, in any case from the registry of the names of all the proprietors of the newspaper (either owing to minority, coverture, absence from the United Kingdom, minute sub-division of shares, or other special circumstances), it shall be lawful for the Board of Trade to authorise the registration of such newspaper in the name or names of some one or more responsible 'representative proprietors,'said, it was assented to by the Government and the hon. Gentleman in charge of the Bill (Mr. Hutchinson).
§ New Clause (Board of Trade may authorize registration of the names of only a portion of the proprietors of a newspaper), brought up, and read a first time.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Clause be read a second time."
§ MR. WARTONsaid, he could quite see the propriety of not mentioning all the names in the case of minorities or other 1982 good reasons for not doing so; but he thought the words of the clause went a little too far. All the names should be registered when not subject to any disability. But the clause did not seem to say that it would accept all but "one or more;" thus they might have some person writing in a newspaper and some other person named in connection with the matter, while there might be other persons responsible without any disability. He thought that all should be registered, not subject to any disability.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, there were many newspapers, there was one especially, that had a large number of proprietors. One journal had as many as 60 or 70. The clause was intended so that, with the permission of the Board of Trade, where there was a minute sub-division of shares and registration was difficult, because the shareholders were a fluctuating number, then the registration should be of a representative number of these proprietors.
§ MR. WARTONasked, why were they called representative proprietors? Were they to be chosen by the others?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, it was intended these names should appear on the register as representative proprietors, to show that there were others behind. Without these words it would appear that those mentioned were sole proprietors.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Clause read a second time, and added to the Bill.
§ On Motion of The ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir Henry James), the following clauses were agreed to, and added to the Bill. In page 4, after Clause 11, insert the following Clauses:—
§ (Recovery of penalties and enforcement of orders.)
§ "All penalties under this Act may be recovered before a court of summary jurisdiction in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.
§ "Summary orders under this Act may be made by a court of summary jurisdiction and enforced in manner provided by section thirty-four of 'The Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879;' and, for the purposes of this Act, that section shall be deemed to apply to Ireland in the same manner as if it were re-enacted in this Act."
§ (Definitions.)
§ "The expression 'a court of summary jurisdiction' has in England the meanings assigned 1983 to it by 'The Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879;' and in Ireland means any justice or justices of the peace, stipendiary or other magistrate or magistrates, having jurisdiction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.
§ "The expression 'Summary Jurisdiction Acts' has as regards England the meanings assigned to it by 'The Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879;' and as regards Ireland, means within the police district of Dublin metropolis, the Acts regulating the powers and duties of justices of the peace for such district, or of the police of that district, and elsewhere in Ireland 'The Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851,' and any Act amending the same."
§ MR. HUTCHINSONmoved the insertion of the following Clause:—
The printers and publishers of any newspaper which belongs to a joint stock company duly incorporated under and subject to the provisions of the Companies' Acts, 1862 to 1880, shall duly return the name of such company as the proprietor of such newspaper; but, save as herein mentioned, the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the case of such newspaper.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)objected to the clause, as amounting to the exclusion of many newspapers from the Act.
§ MR. HUTCHINSONsaid, he had no desire to press the clause.
§ Clause negatived.
§ Schedules read, and agreed to.
§ House resumed.
§ Bill reported; as amended, to be considered upon Thursday next.