§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL (Kirkcaldy)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if the formal consent of the Corporation of Birmingham to the Electric Lighting Provisional Order for that town has now been received; whether, in any other cases in which he has granted a Provisional Order without making a Special Report of the grounds on which he has dis-dispensed with the consent of the Local Authority, the consent of the Local Authority has been formally and directly put on record; whether, in future, he will take care that, in the terms of the Law, no Provisional Order is granted 1422 without the express consent of the Local Authority or a Special Report; and whether he is aware that all over the country electric companies are scattering very numerous applications to light towns without any apparent minute inquiry, and rather with the object of being first in the field for concessions; and will take care that Local Authorities are not unduly harassed or hurried in regard to applications which may not be serious, and are allowed time to look about them before they are obliged to deal with applications in the way proposed by Major Marindin?
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Sir M. HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.The answer to the first two paragraphs of the hon. Member's question is, Yes. I will take care that the provisions of the section to which the hon. Member refers are complied with. I may, however, point out that a difficulty arises from the fact that Amendments to Orders are pressed upon me up to the very last moment of the issue of the Orders. I will, however, endeavour to arrange that in future either the formal consent of the Local Authority shall be obtained, or that a Special Report shall be made before the Second Reading of the confirming Bill. In the consideration of any future proposals which may come before me I will certainly take care that Local Authorities are not unduly harassed or hurried. It is with the very object of avoiding any such hurry that Parliament has enacted that notices should be given to Local Authorities on or before July 1 of all Provisional Orders to be applied for in respect of the ensuing Session of Parliament.