§ The consent of the Chief Officer of Police referred to in Sub-section (1) and Sub-section (2) of the Police Constables (Naval and Military Service) Act, 1914, as amended by the Police (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1916, may, in the case of any man who has entered, re-entered, enlisted or re-enlisted in any of His Majesty's Naval, Military or Air Forces, be given after the time when he so entered, re-entered, enlisted, or re-enlisted, and when given after that time shall, for the purposes of the enactments relating to pensions and gratuities, have the same effect as if the consent had been given before that time.
§ Mr. A. WILLIAMSI beg to move, to leave out the word "may" ["Act, 1915, may"], and to insert instead thereof the word "shall."
I hope the Government will accept this Amendment. At any rate, I would like to know what is the objection.
§ Sir G. HEWARTWe have accepted the word "shall" for "may" in an earlier part of the Bill, but in this particular Sub-section 3083 I suggest it is desirable that the word "may" be retained in order to give a discretion to the chief officer of police. No doubt, in the great majority of cases consent will be granted, but there may be some particular cases—I do not want to dwell upon them or even to specify them—in which consent may be withheld. It is the view of the Government that it should be left to the discretion of the chief officer of police.
§ Amendment negatived.
§ Clause 4, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.