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Lords Amendment: In page 81, line 15, at the end, insert:
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(3) Without prejudice to any of the other provisions of this Part of this Act, in the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation in any Province or Federated State regard shall be had to the interests of that Province or State.
§ Mr. BUTLERI beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
This new paragraph (3) is inserted in this portion of the Bill, and its general principle is that mutual regard should be had for each other's interests on the part of the Federation on the one hand, and the units on the other. We understand that the insertion of these words has given satisfaction to the States' representatives, and it has also given satisfaction to representatives of the Provinces, and this declaration will, it is thought, help to ensure that the interests of the units will not be sacrificed to those of the Federation.
§ 6.17 p.m.
§ Viscount WOLMERI do not quite understand what the point is. I understood my hon. Friend to state that this is one of the provisions for which the States had asked, and I do not know whether that is so. These words have to be read in their context with Clause 122, which says:
The executive authority of every Province and Federated State shall be so exercised as to secure respect for the laws of the Federal Legislature which apply in that Province or State.It goes on to say:Without prejudice to any of the other provisions of this Part of this Act, in the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation in any Province or Federated State regard shall be had to the interests of that Province or State.It is an extraordinary thing to put into an Act of Parliament a platitude of that sort, which can mean anything or nothing. We are always taught that there is nothing so dangerous in drafting as to draft a thing which comes within such a definition. The Under-Secretary of State has not given arty reason why these words should be put in.
§ 6.19 p.m.
§ Lord E. PERCYThe very words which my Noble Friend has read out suggest the reason for this Amendment. In the first paragraph it states that the Province and the Federated States shall so exercise their powers as to secure respect for the 2543 laws of the Federal Legislature which apply in that Province or State. It might naturally be asked, "What is your obligation to us on the other side of the exercise of your executive authority? Is there to be anything to balance our obligations?" This is an attempt to balance the two obligations. It is true that it is, in a sense, a platitude, that is to say, it is the enunciation of a principle. It might almost be called the enunciation of a dogma. While I sympathise with my Noble Friend in the enunciation of general principles, I think that in a Constitution Act of this kind a rare and isolated reference to general principle need not raise our alarm too much.