§ 34. Mr. C. BATHURSTasked the Vice-President of the Department whether any rules made by his Department under Clause 18 of the Irish Creameries and Dairy Produce Bill will have the force of law immediately upon their promulgation by the Department; and, if so, whether, in view of the possibly far-reaching and restrictive character of such rules, he will accept an Amendment to this Clause providing that they shall lie upon the Table of this House for forty days prior to their being put into operation, so as to admit of their discussion and possible amendment?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThe object of the rules to be made by the Department under Clause 18 of the Irish Creameries and Butter Produce Bill will be to prescribe certain matters of detail with which the Bill ought not to be encumbered; for instance, the form of applications for registration (Clause 7), the fees not exceeding 1s., to be paid for inspecting the register (Clause 15), the manner in which the Department are to give notice of their intention of removing premises from the register (Clause 8), and the manner in which butter manufactured in a registered creamery is to be marked (Clause 5). The rules, therefore, will not be of such a nature as to justify the expense and delay of laying them before Parliament forty days before they come into operation. However, I shall be quite willing on the Committee stage to give an undertaking that the rules will not come into operation until the expiration of a reasonable period after they are made, and I hope this promise will induce the hon. Member to withdraw his opposition to the Second Reading of the Bill.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTWill the right hon. Gentleman give an undertaking that these rules will be limited to the matters of detail he has mentioned?
§ Mr. RUSSELLYes; it has been the object of the Department to put as much as possible into the Bill and to leave as little as possible to regulations.