HC Deb 28 July 1947 vol 441 c192
Sir S. Cripps

I beg to move, in page 20, line 40, at the end, to insert: Provided that copies of the representations need not be sent out, and the representations need not be read out at the meeting, if, on the application either of the company or of any other person who claims to be aggrieved, the court is satisfied that the rights conferred by this Section are being abused to secure needless publicity for defamatory matter; and the court may order the company's costs on an application under this Section to be paid in whole or in part by the auditor, notwithstanding that he is not a party to the application.

This Amendment is on the same basis as the former manuscript Amendment.

Amendment agreed to.

The Solicitor-General

I beg to move, in page 20, line 40, after the words last inserted, to insert: (6) Where notice is given of an intended resolution to appoint some person or persons instead of a retiring auditor, and by reason of the death, incapacity or disqualification of that person or of all those persons, as the case may be, the resolution cannot be proceeded with, the retiring auditor shall not be automatically reappointed by virtue of subsection (1) of this section. This is designed to meet a point made during the Committee stage by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for West Bristol (Mr. Stanley). The point he made was that if notice had been given to appoint somebody else in the place of an existing auditor and that other person died, the retiring auditor ought not to be automatically re-appointed. Where a course of that sort had been taken and where it was desirable to get a report on the existing auditor, presumably that would be because of some personal objection or some lack of confidence in the auditor, and therefore it would not be desirable in such a case that the old auditor should not be automatically reappointed.

Mr. Oliver Stanley (Bristol, West)

I am much obliged to the hon. and learned Gentleman.

Amendment agreed to.