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Lords Amendment: In page 1, after "powers" insert:
for the adjustment of the rights of the parties to such leases with respect to certain buildings and fixtures.
§ The Solicitor-General (Sir David Maxwell Fyfe)I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
The necessity for the alteration of the Title of the Bill is caused by the new Clause which deals with fixtures on requisitioned property which has not been disclaimed, in addition to property where a disclaimer has been made.
§ Mr. Garro Jones (Aberdeen, North)Perhaps I may be permitted at the outset to congratulate my hon. and learned Friend upon his appointment to his new office and to wish him success. This is an Amendment to the Title of the Bill, and as there is a considerable number of other Amendments upon which I do not wish to detain the House at length, I may perhaps say a few words at this stage to deprecate Amendments being made in the Titles of Bills. The necessity for making such an Amendment at this stage arises from the fact that a number of Amendments are being proposed at a late stage in the passage of the Bill which can only be brought into Order if the Title of the Bill is amended. I would ask the House to observe that this places the 2194 procedure of the House in a rather anomolous position, because Amendments rejected by the Chair as being out of Order under the old Title on the Committee stage are now, when it is too late, made permissible by Amendments to the Title at this stage. Conversely, Amendments which were formerly admissible might now be made out of Order. If that is the case, and if the Title of the Bill is a rigid criterion of what is permissible and what is not, it is not a procedure that ought to be followed without good cause.
The rapidly changing scene in the relations of landlord and tenant in the light of changing post-war conditions, and the new decisions which are constantly being made in the courts, make it very difficult to keep the legislation governing the relations between landlord and tenant up to date, but I would suggest that if in future Amendments become necessary at a late stage of a Bill consideration ought to be given to the question whether the bringing in of short additional Bills might not be a more regular way of proceeding. I do not wish to press this as a highly critical matter, but I should like it to be considered by the hon. and learned Gentleman on any future occasion.
§ Question put, and agreed to.