§ 7.24 p.m.
§ Mr. BUTLERI beg to move, in page 298, line 29, after the first "in," to insert "or prescribed under."
This is a corresponding Amendment to the Amendment which I moved on the First Schedule.
§ Mr. C. WILLIAMSMay I ask what this Amendment means? Corresponding to what?
§ Mr. BUTLERI think I gave the House full particulars. I said I was moving exactly the same Amendment as I moved on the First Schedule. I wish to be quite patient with the hon. Member, and I will give him an answer.
§ Mr. WILLIAMSIt is your job.
§ Mr. BUTLERI have just said that I wished to be perfectly patient with the hon. Member. I have told the House once that I was moving an Amendment corresponding to an Amendment in the First Schedule in which we used exactly the same words. I said on that occasion that attention had been drawn to the fact that in addition to qualifications actually specified in the Bill certain qualifications are left to be prescribed. The question of dealing with them arose under the First Schedule and it arises also under the Fifth Schedule. Certain of the qualifications under the Fifth Schedule are also to be prescribed—those on page 301, paragraph 12 (a). The qualifications in the case of a seat to be filled by a woman, a European, an Indian Christian, a representative of the backward areas or backward tribes and certain other special categories are to be prescribed. There are similar entries on page 302, paragraph 17. As I had indicated that this had to be done under the Fifth Schedule as well as under the First Schedule when I moved the Amendment on the First Schedule I naturally did not repeat what I had said then, but I am glad to give the hon. Member the information.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Mr. SPEAKERAs to the remainder of the Bill, there is a considerable number of Amendments down which I find it quite impossible to select. Hon. Members will realise that the House has, under Standing Orders, put in my hands the power to select Amendments without giving any reason whatever as to why I select or do not select, as the case may be, but I can assure hon. Members that I have taken a great deal of trouble to look into all these Amendments, and I have refused them practically all on the following grounds—that they are either incomplete in themselves or are inconsistent with other parts of the Bill which the House has already passed; that they would if they were accepted be quite unworkable; or that they have been discussed at great length in Committee. Those are the main reasons—in fact, all the reasons for the decision I have come to.
§ Mr. SPEAKERTo practically all the Amendments, but more especially to those to the Schedules. That is the part of the Bill to which there are the most Amendments.
Mr. RHYS DAVISI take it we are not to understand that every Amendment is debarred from being discussed?
§ Mr. SPEAKERI am making reference to those Amendments which I do not select. There may be Amendments which I shall select.
§ 7.27 p.m.
§ Mr. BUTLERI beg to move, in page 2.99, line 22, to leave out "to be filled by," and insert "reserved for."
Certain hon. Ladies in the House who are interested in this particular subject, particularly the hon. Member for the English Universities (Miss Rathbone), have been somewhat anxious lest the original words might be taken to mean that a woman could not stand as a candidate in an ordinary constituency, and the Amendment is to make the situation plain.
Duchess of ATHOLLAs one of those who supported the hon. Member for the English Universities (Miss Rathbone), I beg to thank the Under-Secretary.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ 7.28 p.m.
§ Mr. BUTLERI beg to move, page 299, line 39, at the end, to insert:
or, if as respects any class of constituency it is so prescribed, may form one territorial constituency.This Amendment was moved in order that we should be ready for any case in which an Indian Christian constituency, for example, covered the whole of one district as a territorial constituency. The original terms of the Bill spoke of "divided into territorial constituencies" and this Amendment is to meet the case where one constituency might cover the whole of one area.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Further Amendments made: In page 300, line 27, leave out "Schedule (Provisions as to Franchise," and insert "Sixth Schedule."
1389
§
In page 302, line 6, at the end, insert:
or, if as respects any class of constituency it is so prescribed, may form one territorial constituency."—[Mr. Butler.]
| "Assam | Not less than 21- | 10 | 6 | 2 | — | — | Not less than 3. |
| Not more than 22 - | Not more than 4." |
§ This Table provides the figures for the composition of the Upper House which has been decided on for the Province of Assam. The House will see that the composition of this Upper House corresponds, having regard to the size of the Province, to the composition of Upper Houses in other Provinces, not less than 21 and not more than 22 members. The seats are divided between general, Mohamedan and European, as shown in the Table, and the Governor may at his discretion nominate not less than three and not more than four members.
§ 7.31 p.m.
§ Mr. COCKSI do not want to allow this proposal to pass without making a protest, on behalf of the Opposition, against the whole proposal of a second chamber for Assam.
§ Mr. ISAAC FOOTThe question whether or not there should be a second chamber for Assam was debated on the last occasion. Now it is simply a question of the number of members. I assume, in the communications that were made by the right hon. Gentleman with Assam, that the figures proposed have been generally approved as corresponding to those of other States in proportion to population. Is it entirely upon population that the figure has been calculated?
§ Mr. BUTLERThe composition of the chamber is not literally related to population, but the hon. Member for Bodmin (Mr. Isaac Foot) may take it that this proposal corresponds, considering the size of Assam, approximately to other chambers in relation to their numbers. Amendment agreed to.