NEW CLAUSE B.—(Qualifications for registration.) (Hansard, 9 July 1931)

§ Mr. McSHANE
I beg to move, as an Amendment to the Lords Amendment, in line 12, after the word "practising," to insert the words "or was qualified to practise."
Considerable injustice would be done to a particular class of architects if this Amendment is not accepted. At the present time there is no definite standard accepted or acknowledged for the profession and a man who is a builder or a surveyor or an engineer may also be qualified to practise as an architect although not practising as an architect. If at the end of two years he failed as a builder or surveyor or engineer he would be too late to apply for registration as an architect. I am certain that the House will support the principle of the Amendment.

Lieut.-Colonel MOORE
It is a little difficult to reply to manuscript Amendments which have been handed in within the last few moments and to form any judgment as to what they mean. We debated this point at great length in Committee and the words were altered and realtered to meet the general wish of hon. Members. I hope the House will not accept the Amendment.
On the Report stage and Third Reading of the Bill, this question was debated, and I pointed out the difficulty of finding a phrase to define an architect and the conditions under which an architect should practise. I pointed out the difficulty which the medical profession had found in regard to a definition of this kind, and it was the general view of the House that the word "practising" should be held to represent the wish of the Committee which dealt with the Bill. I would beg of the Mover of the Amendment to withdraw it and to accept the words of the Lords Amendment.

§ Mr. BRACKEN
Has anyone ever heard a more preposterous argument than that which has been advanced from 2426 the other side on this question? In effect, the hon. Member for Walsall (Mr. McShane) argues that if a man has failed as a surveyor he should still have the right to use the architectural profession as a step-ladder to some other post. But if a man is incompetent in his job and fails in it, I do not see how he can be regarded as a worthy entrant to the architectural profession.

Dr. MORGAN
A doctor can practise as a dentist.

§ Mr. BRACKEN
We are not discussing doctors and dentists at the moment. The hon. Member for Walsall at an earlier stage in the proceedings on the Bill said that he belonged to the teaching profession; that teachers were members of a registered profession and had a firm understanding, as such, that they would be able to make a living at all times and that they would work under certain conditions. Now we are told by him that because a man has been incompetent as a surveyor he should have an unlimited time in which to qualify as an architect. I think that these Amendments are merely obstructive. I do not know what lies behind them, but they appear to have the effect of making more difficulties for universities in this country and people who teach architecture, and of preventing students of architecture from gaining any sense of security in their profession. I am surprised that any member of the Socialist party should take such a line. While I am not a great admirer of the Government in ordinary circumstances, I know that they have done their best to control their supporters in this matter. These obstructive tactics do harm to the Socialist party, because many hon. Members opposite really believe in this idea that there should be professional education for all intelligent children in secondary schools. I ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury to bring this farce to an end, and I ask the House not to listen to these Amendments, but to allow the Bill to go through.