§ Where any offence under Part I or Part V of this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.—[Mr. W. S. Morrison.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ 3.56 p.m.
§ The Minister of Agriculture (Mr. W. S. Morrison)I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
The necessity for this new Clause arises from a pledge which I gave, to reconsider a point raised in Committee by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillsborough (Mr. Alexander). Under Clause 28 of the Bill as it stands, in the case of corporations who connive at offences by their servants penalties are inflicted on the officers of the corporations only in respect of offences against Part I of the Measure. The right hon. Gentleman pointed out that it was only right that they should also be liable for offences against Part V of the Measure, which deals with illegal fishing. It is a matter of drafting, and we propose that this new Clause should be substituted for Clause 28 as considered in the Standing Committee.
§ Clause added to the Bill.