§ The following Amendments stood upon the Order Paper in the name of Mr. GLENVIL HALL:
§ In page 1, line 4, to leave out from "Act," to the end of the paragraph.
§ In line 6, after "by," to insert "special."
§ In line 6, to leave out "martial."
§ The Deputy-ChairmanThese three Amendments are not in Order. It will not be necessary to amend the Preamble in this way, as no Amendment has been made to the Bill to render such Amendment necessary. These words are part of a recital and cannot be affected by the Bill.
§ Mr. Glenvil HallIs it possible for you, Colonel Clifton Brown, to give me any reason why these Amendments are ruled out of Order? Where in the Bill is any provision made for extending martial law to the civil population, which in my submission, is the essence of the Preamble?
§ The Deputy-ChairmanAny Amendment to the Preamble must be rendered necessary by an Amendment which has already been made to the Bill.
§ Mr. HallSurely the Home Secretary added his name to an Amendment which I had previously put on the Paper, to retain in Section 5 of the original Act the words which precluded the extension of courts-martial to civilians. It seems to me that the retention of words in the Preamble dealing with the application of courts-martial to civilians is now, to say the least, very misleading.
§ The Deputy-ChairmanOne cannot alter what is the recital of the 1939 Act. That may or may not be correct, but one cannot alter it very well. I am afraid that I must rule the Amendments out of Order.
§
Amendment made: In page 1, line 11, leave out "extend," and insert:
remove doubts as to the extent of."—[Sir J. Anderson.]
§ Preamble, as amended, agreed to.