§ Mr. NORMAN CRAIGI desire to ask the Home Secretary if he will give some information to the House with reference to the Shops Bill, which, according to the statement of business by the Prime 1545 Minister, should be considered on Friday. The Committee stage of this Bill lasted for a very considerable time, and the Bill itself extended over some thirty odd days. A White Paper has been issued by the Government stating that it is their proposal that the scope of the Bill shall be to a very large extent diminished, and that it is the intention of the Government to proceed merely with the main proposals—namely, the weekly half-holiday and the meal-times of shop assistants. That Paper has been published, and if that Paper still reflects the opinion of the Government—about which I understand, at any rate by rumour, there is some doubt—one knows what is the intention, providing that intention, according to ordinary Parliamentary procedure, is carried into effect. We are now on the verge of Thursday morning, and the necessary Amendments, in order to make that proposal effective, have not been set out. The proposal, in effect, is to delete—I am speaking roughly—about three-quarters of the Bill. The proposal also includes the introduction of some new matter, some part of which is important.
I should have no complaint to make that the whole of the work of the Committee has been sacrificed, as undoubtedly it has, if the right hon. Gentleman the First Lord of the Admiralty, who I believe is still responsible for the measure and not the right hon. Gentleman the Home Secretary, who necessarily has far less knowledge of the details of the measure than the right hon. Gentleman the First Lord of the Admiralty, had given us notice of the Amendments, but we on this side are in this position, that until the right hon. Gentleman in charge of the Bill puts down his Amendments in accordance with the ordinary Parliamentary practice we cannot put down any Amendments to those Amendments. Here we are on the verge of Thursday morning with the Bill about to be considered in this House on Friday, and the Bill to be transformed and in some sense to be almost a new Bill, and to-night we do not know in official form what is the intention of the Government as the right hon. Gentleman has not given any formal intimation. Some of us are desirous of putting down Amendments to the Amendments of the right hon. Gentleman. I take leave at this late hour to invite the Home Secretary to give us on this side some sort of assurance that we will get at any rate time to hand in something better than manuscript Amendments 1546 on Friday to the Amendments proposed. It probably must be due to some oversight, because it is scant courtesy to Members of the House who have spent many Parliamentary days upstairs in trying to convert this Bill into a practical measure that the Bill should be disembowelled to begin with and in fact proceeded without those who have given that Parliamentary time being given the opportunity of putting notices on the Paper to deal with it.
§ Mr. McKENNAI speak again with the leave of the House, and I should like to say that I recognise very fully the strength of the case which the hon. and learned Gentleman has made. I can only express my very great regret that the Amendments have not been placed on the Table earlier. I am bound to say I have no personal responsibility in regard to this particular Bill, but I am quite sure my right hon. Friend, who, it will be understood, has been necessarily very occupied, and of course I think under those circumstances the House will excuse, perhaps, the delay which under, perhaps, other circumstances would be unpardonable. I am happy to be able to tell the hon. and learned Gentleman that I learn that the Amendments have been handed in to-day, and will appear to-morrow morning on the Paper, and will thus afford time to put down the necessary Amendments which he wishes to move to-morrow so as to be ready for Friday.
§ Mr. COURTHOPEI do not think that is the case. I understand from information which has reached me only this evening that the Amendments which the First Lord of the Admiralty will place on the Paper will not only involve the abandonment of nearly three-fourths of the Bill as we are accustomed to it, but in addition to that the insertion of some entirely new matter. I could understand the Government taking the line that owing to its being impossible to proceed with the whole Bill because of lack of Parliamentary time they would drop certain parts, but to propose to introduce some entirely new matter at this stage of the Session is entirely unwarrantable.
§ Mr. McKENNAIt is not new matter in the sense of new substance, but new matter in order to put it into right form.
§ Mr. COURTHOPEMy complaint is not so much that new substance is to be inserted as that in order to insert that new substance certain substance which 1547 ought not to be dropped is to be omitted. I have received continual communications from my Constituents on the point.
§ House Adjourned accordingly at Eight minutes before Twelve o'clock.