HC Deb 06 July 1939 vol 349 cc1543-5

4.48 p.m.

Mr. Stanley

I beg to move, in page 4, line 31, after "business," to insert: or an application to be so registered has been duly made by him and is under consideration. During the course of our Debate on this Clause in Committee, I think the hon. Member for Penryn and Falmouth (Mr. Petherick) pointed out a defect in drafting which I confess at the time I did not appreciate. It was that we had got into a sort of vicious circle, because we had laid it down that nobody could be registered until they had carried on business, while in another place it was laid down that nobody could carry on business until they had been registered. That was an unfortunate dilemma which I thought should be resolved. The way it is to be resolved by this Amendment is to make certain that anyone who carries on business after he has applied for registration, and while the registration application is being considered, cannot be subject to penalty. That seems the simplest way of getting over the difficulty. It will be possible for a person to put in his application to be registered, and pending consideration of it he can start business, but until the application has been considered, he cannot be subject to any penalty.

Sir Herbert Williams

I thank my right hon. Friend for the very satisfactory way he has solved this problem.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr. Stanley

I beg to move, in page 5, line 12, to leave out from "merchant," to the end of line 14.

This Amendment deals with a point which, I think, was raised by the hon. Member for South-West Bethnal Green (Sir P. Harris) who was afraid that under the provisions of the Bill as it then stood the Cotton Industry Board would, of their own initiative, be able to come to the conclusion that a man had ceased to be a merchant, and could delete the entry of his name in the register. The hon. Baronet was afraid that there might be cases where this might prove invidious to the merchant, especially in view of the fact that there was no arbitration provided. The result of the proposed Amendment is that it will only be possible for the board to strike a merchant off the register under this particular procedure if they are desired to do so by the person concerned. It will be appreciated that there are powers under Clause 11to strike off the register a person who has not carried out the conditions under which he registers. One of those conditions would be the payment of the registration fee. If a man has ceased to carry on business, he, presumably, would not pay his fee, and as soon as that fee is not paid it will be possible to strike his name off the register. Under Clause 11, how- ever, there is the safeguard of arbitration if the person struck off feels aggrieved.

Amendment agreed to.