§ MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether the Board of Trade have laid down a general rule that they will not sanction transfers of Electric Lighting Orders except in cases where special authority for the transfer is conferred by a provision in the Order; if so, under what statutory authority have the Board laid down this general rule; what is the reason and purpose of the rule; and whether the Board will consent to relax the rule as regards existing Orders (as in the cases of Grangemouth and Denny in Stirlingshire), and save the ratepayers the cost of obtaining fresh Orders.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEThe Board of Trade have not made a rule in the matter referred to by my hon. friend, but they are advised that without a transfer clause there can be no transfer which will relieve the undertakers of their liabilities to the public, though there might be clauses in an agreement for the exercise under certain conditions of the powers of the undertakers by the contractors party to the agreement. In the two cases referred to by my hon. friend, a power to transfer was not asked for when the applications for the Orders were made, and the Board of Trade, therefore, have no power now to sanction a transfer.