§ Lords Amendment: In line 4, leave out the first "the" and insert "certain".
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."—[Mr. Oliver Stanley.]
§ 3.46 p.m.
§ Mr. HERBERT WILLIAMSI think this would be a convenient opportunity to make one mild protest about the way in which we have been treated on this Bill. I am not blaming the Minister or anybody else under the circumstances, which arise from the fact that the Prorogation of Parliament is to take place to-morrow, but this document of 25 pages of Amendments reached us only this morning, and it must be very difficult for hon. Members to appreciate the significance of these Amendments. I have received communications on the subject from one or two people. What I would suggest to the Minister is that on this Motion he might make a brief statement to explain to us the substance of the bulk of the Amendments. If he were to do that I think it would save the time of everybody later.
§ 3.47 p.m.
§ The MINISTER of TRANSPORT (Mr. Oliver Stanley)I am much obliged to the hon. Gentleman. I realise that the House has been put into a considerable difficulty by receiving these Amendments only this morning, but hon. Members will realise that if the Bill is to receive the Royal Assent there is no alternative to considering it to—day. I did take what steps I could to make the position easier by making available, through the usual channels, a brief analysis of the more important of the Amendments which have been made in another place, and I think hon. Members opposite have had it. I do not think that on this Amendment it 1154 would be possible to deal with all the Amendments on the Paper, but I can tell hon. Members that the vast majority of those Amendments are either of a drafting or of a machinery character. The number of substantial Amendments is small, and nearly all of them either carry out a pledge which I gave at an earlier stage or move in a direction which the House showed that it approved in the earlier stages of the Bill. There are three new Clauses about which it may be necessary to give more detailed explanations. One deals with the Southern Traffic Area, the second deals with the position of weak bridges, and the third is a Clause which was inserted at the instance of a Noble Lord in another place concerning payments to be made to hospitals under certain circumstances in the case of accidents. I think my hon. Friends will find that, with the exception of these three Amendments, all the others are either drafting or machinery Amendments, or are inserted to meet the wishes of the House. Of course, I will, as occasion arises, give further explanations about them.
§ Mr. H. WILLIAMSCould the hon. Gentleman say where the memorandum to which he referred is to be found?
§ Question, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment," put, and agreed to.
§ Subsequent Lords Amendments to page 1, line 12, agreed to.