§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELI beg to ask for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Telephone Transfer Act, 1911, so as to authorise a payment to be made to the National Telephone Company, Limited, of a sum on account of the Telephone Purchase Money before the amount thereof is finally ascertained.
I desire to ask the indulgence of the House for two or three minutes—it will not be longer—before it passes to the Order of the Day, in order to ask leave to bring in at this late period of the Session a new Bill. It is a Bill consisting only of two or three lines. It deals with a very urgent matter, and I trust the House, when it hears what it is, will realise the necessity for passing it speedily. It is to effect what is little more than a drafting Amendment in the Telephone Transfer Act passed by Parliament this Session. Since that Act was passed, new circumstances have arisen. The National Telephone Company raised difficulties with respect to the transfer of their undertaking to the Post Office on 1st January next on the ground that their debenture holders would lose the security on which their debentures were charged owing to this transfer, and they asked that some arrangement should be made to enable them to meet their debenture holders. To have refused this might have meant long and costly litigation, and, as there was no question of additional payment by the State involved, I consulted with the Treasury, and, with the full concurrence of the Treasury, it was arranged that a sum of £3,000,000 should be paid to the National Telephone Company on account of the purchase money at the moment of the transfer on 1st January. This was the sum asked for by the company in order to enable them to pay off their debenture holders. As it is quite certain the purchase money which will ultimately be payable to the company will be very considerably more than £3,000,000, there is no risk in paying that sum on account. Of course we were bound by the wording of the Transfer Act, and the Treasury would not have had power to issue this sum on account in advance of the award of the Railway and Canal Com- 1926 missioners of the amount of the purchase money. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce this very brief Bill in order to enable the Treasury, not to pay any additional sum, but to pay in advance in cash a sum not exceeding £3,000,000 in order that the National Telephone Company may pay off its debenture holders before the plant which is the security for the debenture holders is transferred from the hands of the company into the hands of the State. No further Resolution is needed for this as the Resolution already passed by this House in Committee of Ways and Means on which the National Transfer Act was based, being a Resolution of this Session, will also cover in its terms the new Bill, which I now beg to ask leave to introduce.
Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Herbert Samuel. Presented accordingly, and read the first time; to be read a second time To-morrow, and to be printed.
§ Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINI do not desire to raise the question now unless I am obliged, but I have a point of Order which I desire respectfully to submit to you, Sir, as to the sufficiency of a Resolution passed some months ago and for another Bill as the foundation of this Bill. If I could raise the question later, I would like to have some opportunity of looking at the precedents.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI have looked at the Bill and I have looked at the Resolution, and my opinion was that the Resolution covered the Bill. If the right hon. Gentleman has any further point which he wishes to raise, perhaps he will raise it at Question Time to-morrow.