CLAUSE 36.—(Provisions as to companies with large area of supply.) (Hansard, 11 November 1926)

§ Mr. HANNON
I beg to move, in page 27, to leave out from the word 1355 "supply" in line 35 to the word "the" in line 37, and to insert instead thereof the words is, in the opinion of the Electricity Commissioners, adequate in extent. This was discussed in Committee, and there was, I think, some tendency on the part of the Attorney-General to reconsider the point, which was presented to him there, that is to say, that it might be possible, instead of having two or more local authorities for the purposes of this Clause, to have one. You might have an area which in itself would be greater than that of two authorities combined, and it was felt that it would be more in accord with the intention of the Bill if the Amendment which I now propose were inserted. It certainly would not injure the Bill, and I think it would substantially improve it. After all, the Electricity Commissioners exercise the final judgment, under my Amendment, in the determination of the area, and I am certain that the authority for the administration of the Act would be perfectly willing to leave them to determine this question.

§ Sir J. NALL
I beg to second the Amendment.

§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL
As the House will see, I have down, as the next Amendment, one very similar to that which has been moved by my hon. Friend. The difference between the two is this, that he proposes that the only condition shall be that the area, of supply shall be, in the opinion of the Electricity Commissioners, adequate in extent. We propose that there shall be two conditions, namely, the condition already stipulated, that the area of supply shall include the whole district of two or more local authorities, and also the condition that it is, in the opinion of the Electricity Commissioners, adequate in extent. The reason why we desire to keep in the words that my hon. Friend wishes to exclude is that we are anxious to make it appear that we do not intend to deal with comparatively small areas, and that we do not think an area which does not include at least two local authorities is sufficiently important from the electrical point of view to justify the provisions of this Clause, which is intended to be confined to companies with a really large area of supply. We have given consideration 1356 to the point, which was urged in Committee, that the mere fact that there were two local authorities' districts might not in itself be sufficient, and we are covering that by adding the very words which my hon. Friend suggests, and we do not see our way to omit the other condition.

§ Sir J. NALL
I beg to move, in page 29, line 12, at the end, to insert the words in respect of the capital employed by the company on the undertaking authorised by the Special Order. This was discussed in Committee, but I think it was rather misunderstood, and was not adopted. The object is quite simple. The undertaking concerned may be operated in an area, the whole of which might not be affected by the Order, and the intention is that the capital employed in respect of the area affected shall be the capital referred to in this Sub-section. The Orders I have in mind are applied for by companies who carry on other undertakings or businesses. The sliding scale which it is sought to apply should, I think, only apply to the capital employed for the purposes of the undertaking authorised by the particular Order, and not the whole of the capital of that company, which might apply to a much wider field of activity. That is the intention of the Amendment, and I think it is a reasonable one.

§ Mr. DENNIS HERBERT
I beg to second the Amendment.

§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL
I am sorry that I cannot accept the Amendment in this form, and I am afraid the only form in which I. could accept it is in an earlier part of the Bill. But I would like to give this assurance to my hon. Friend. If he can arrange to have an Amendment moved in another place to reproduce the words which appear in Clause 30 (2) where we dealt with a similar difficulty, the Government will be prepared to accept it.

§ Sir J. NALL
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, and will be glad to consider it. Therefore, on that ground, I will withdraw my Amendment.