§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Clause stand part of the Bill."
§ Lieut.-Colonel Dower (Penrith and Cockermouth)I want to ask the Solicitor-General if he will be good enough to give 173 some information to the Committee about this Clause. In the table at the end of Subsection (1) a large number of enactments are set out. I do not know whether it is necessary to dig into these enactments and examine them carefully to see whether the Government are receiving powers to vary the duties imposed. Will the Solicitor-General give some kind of explanation of this to those of us who are interested in this matter and indicate how the Government actually do cany out these powers? Are they laid before the legislative chamber? Are they adopted by the legislative chamber? Is notice given? Is the Governor free to do exactly what he likes? [HON. MEMBERS: "Why worry?"] Hon. Members should realise that the Opposition are very concerned about this. The hon. Member for Torquay (Mr. C. Williams) and other hon. Members have been very disturbed about it.
§ Mr. C. WilliamsIf my hon. and gallant Friend would excuse me, I would say I have been disturbed at the incompetence of the Government shown by their failure to answer my questions, and not by the Bill or the Clause.
§ Lieut.-Colonel DowerThe hon. Member for Torquay has underlined what I said. We are very disturbed at the fact that the Government have not given an explanation of this. I hope the Solicitor-General will not roughly and brusquely brush aside this request but will give us the proper explanation to which we are entitled.
Mr. McKieI hope the Solicitor-General will have something to say about this Clause in relation to Clause 1 and will tell us that there is no. radical departure from custom and practice in the Isle of Man as, far as these duties are concerned. We on this side of the Committee are delighted that even a Socialist Government should be able to prevail upon the Manx Government—if indeed that is the right way of expressing it—to agree to the principle of Imperial Preference. I am only concerned to know that there is nothing in Clause 2 which will prevent Clause 1 from operating in the way in which hon. Members on all sides of the Committee would like to see it operate. My hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Penrith and Cockermouth (Lieut.-Colonel Dower) asked what the Governor's duties would be, under this Clause as 174 drafted. That is a very important point. I do not think many hon. Members on this side of the Committee have been fully informed in the past as to what are the duties of the Governor with regard to customs. I see the Chief Government Whip indicating approval. A few minutes ago, the hon. Lady the Member for the Exchange Division of Liverpool (Mrs. Braddock) said in a voice which was audible on this side of the Commttee that we knew nothing about the Isle of Man. I can assure her I know as much about the Isle of Man as any hon. Member opposite.
Before I was led astray by my reference to the Chief Whip, I was expressing the hope that the duties of the Governor of the Isle of Man with regard to the fiscal system in Manxland would continue to be the same and that there would be no radical interruption. I hope the Solicitor-General will see his way to inform the Committee exactly as to what the position of the Governor will be in future. I say that because I am anxious to safeguard the position of Governors of remote provinces. In the past, they have often been called upon to take grave and serious decisions without being properly informed of the position. I am anxious to spare any future Governor of the Isle of Man, or any other remote province of the British Empire—while there still is a British Empire and before it has been pulled down by hon. Members opposite—from being placed in such an invidious position. I hope the Solicitor-General will tell us, first, that these two Clauses really hang together, and secondly that he will lucidly explain to the Committee that there is nothing in Clause 2 to interfere with the due operation of Clause 1, which will establish a certain mild Imperial Preference in the Isle of Man—
§ The Deputy-ChairmanThe hon. Member must confine himself to the Clause under discussion.
§ The Deputy-ChairmanThe hon. Member has already admitted that he has repeated himself, and therefore there is no justification for repeating himself again.
Mr. McKieI hope that the hon. and learned Solicitor-General will tell us what the powers of the Governor of the Isle of Man are.
§ Mr. KeelingI want to ask the same question on Clause 2 as I asked on Clause 1. In Clause 2, not one Act, but at least a dozen are referred to without any explanation as to which Act is meant. The first Act referred to on page 2 is an Act of 1940. At least 100 Acts of Parliament were passed in 1940. I will not enumerate the other Acts referred to but not a single one is defined. I hope that the hon. and learned Solicitor-General will either answer the question satisfactorily now, or will undertake to consider the matter and move an Amendment at some later stage in the Bill, either here or in another place.
§ Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.