§ "Ten" shall be substituted for "five" as the number of Development Commissioners who may be appointed under Section three of the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909, and one Commissioner shall retire every year, instead of every second year as provided by the said Section.
§ Sir FREDERICK BANBURY moved to leave out the Clause. The right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer told us in Committee last night, and he also told us on the Second Reading, that we on this side, including myself, were hostile to the Bill of last year. That statement, as far as regards myself, is correct, but now that the Bill of last year has become law I have no wish in any kind of way to interfere with its working, provided it is worked according to the arrangement arrived at when we discussed the measure last year. The arrangement proposed under this new Clause of this new Bill is one which, in the manner of its being brought forward, is absolutely without precedent. The Bill of last year was passed after a certain amount of consideration in Grand Committee, although 536 a good deal of it was closure. It has never yet been put into operation, and I know of no precedent for amending an Act before it has actually been put into operation. I have no doubt that, where, owing to faulty draftsmanship or faulty legislation, an Act of Parliament, after it has been put into operation has not fulfilled the hopes of its authors, there are precedents for amending it, but never, I think, in the history of this House—"never," perhaps, is a wrong word—but, certainly in the last thirty or forty years, never has it been sought to amend an Act of Parliament before it has actually been put into operation—never has it been necessary to come down to the House and introduce an amending Bill. Certainly, one would not have thought it necessary in the case of a Bill passed by a Government representing all the talents—[Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."]—in their own estimation. Last night we had a considerable discussion on this matter, and, pursuivant to a request of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the discussion was put off until he was able later to make an announcement to the House.
§ And, it being a quarter-past Eight of the clock, further Proceeding was postponed, without Question put, in pursuance of Standing Order No. 4.