PRIVATE BILLS. (Hansard, 6 October 1931)

§ The CHAIRMAN of WAYS and MEANS (Sir Dennis Herbert)
I beg to move, That the promoters of every Private Bill which shall have originated in this House or been brought from the House of Lords in the present Session of Parliament shall have leave to suspend any further proceeding thereon in order to proceed with the same, if they shall think fit, in the next Session of Parliament, provided that notice of their intention to do so be given in the Committee and Private Bill Office not later than Noon on the last Sitting day of the present Session, and that all fees thereon due up to that period be paid: That not later than Five o'clock on the third day on which the House shall sit after the next meeting of Parliament every such Bill which has originated in this House shall be deposited in the Committee and Private Bill Office, with a declaration annexed thereto signed by the agent, stating that the Bill is the same, in every respect, as the Bill with respect to which proceedings have been so suspended at the last stage of its proceeding in this House in the present Session; and, as soon as conveniently may be in the next Session of Parliament, every such Bill shall be laid by one of the clerks in the Committee and Private Bill Office upon the Table of the House: That every Bill so laid upon the Table shall be deemed to have been read the First time; and shall be deemed to have been read a second time if such Bill shall have been read a Second time previously to its being suspended; and, if such Bill shall have been reported by any Committee in the present Session, the Committee stage shall be dispensed with and the Bill ordered to lie upon the Table, or to be read the Third time, as the case may be: That in case any Bill brought from the House of Lords in the present Session, upon which the proceedings shall have been suspended in this House, shall be brought from the House of Lords in the next Session of Parliament, a declaration signed as aforesaid stating that the Bill is the same in every respect as the Bill which was brought 960 from the House of Lords in the present Session, shall be deposited in the Committee and Private Bill Office before the First Reading of such Bill; and, provided that such deposit has been duly made, such Bill shall be read the First time and be further proceeded with in the same manner as Bills introduced into this House during the present Session, with this modification that if any such Bill shall have been amended in this House in the present Session, such amendments shall be deemed to have been made in Committee and the Bill, as amended, shall be ordered to lie upon the Table or, if the Bill shall have been ordered to be read the Third time in the present Session, to be read the Third time: That the Standing Orders by which the proceedings on Bills are regulated shall not apply to any such Bill in regard to any of the stages through which the same shall have passed during the present Session, other than Third Reading, and that no further fees be charged in respect of such stages: That the said Orders be Standing Orders of the House. This Motion is in accordance with the usual procedure and is in order to prevent waste of effort and expense, in regard to Private Bills, in the possible event of this Session ending rather earlier than the date originally contemplated. It applies only to three Private Bills, two of which have already gone through by far the greater part of their natural course, and the third of which has made considerable progress. The only thing I need point out is that, if this Motion is carried, the House will not lose control of any of these Bills, because there is preserved in every case the necessity for the further consideration and Third Reading of the Bill in this House.

§ Lieut.-Colonel HENEAGE
May I ask whether the Lindsey County Council (Sandhills) Bill and the Humber Bridge Bill are two of the Bills included in the Motion?

§ Sir D. HERBERT
The three Bills affected are the Humber Bridge Bill, the Lindsey County Council (Sandhills) Bill, and the Amalgamated Societies for the Blind Bill [Lords].