EMERGENCY LAWS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) (Hansard, 7 December 1948)

§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Ede)

I beg to move, That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, in pursuance of Section seven of the Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1947, praying that Section eight of the Emergency Laws (Transitional Provisions) Act, 1946, which, as amended by Subsection (1) of Section five of the Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1947, would otherwise expire on the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, be continued in force until the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and forty-nine. Section 8. of the Act of 1946, as amended, by Section 5 (1) of the Act of 1947, is the only provision, except Defence Regulation 76, continued in force until the end of this year by the Act of 1947 which it is desired to continue in force for another year. These Sections postpone the fixing of the appointed day under the Restoration of Pre-war Trade Practices Act, 1942, and their extension will enable my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service to defer the date when employers would be required to restore trade practices departed from during the war. The House will also wish to know, and I have very much pleasure in informing it, that both sides of the National Joint Advisory Council, who were consulted in this matter by my right hon. Friend, are in agreement with this proposal.

§ Mr. Ede

I beg to move, That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, in pursuance of Section seven of the Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1947, praying that Regulation seventy-six of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939, which would otherwise expire on the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, be continued in force until the thirty-first day of December. nineteen hundred and forty-nine. As I have just informed the House, this Defence Regulation is the only regulation kept in force by the Act of 1947 until the end of this year which it is desired to continue. In moving the Second Reading of the Act of 1947, I described the reasons for grouping the regulations then under consideration into those that might 317 be allowed to come to an end, those that might be continued for 12 months, those that might be continued for a longer time and those that could be made permanent. Defence Regulation 76 falls into the second group. The selection of the regulations for inclusion in this group has been remarkably well justified by events. The only one of them which has disappointed my hopes is this Defence Regulation 76. All the others have been revoked or replaced by permanent legislation, or are, for other reasons, no longer required.

This regulation was made in 1939 to enable the Minister of Transport to make by order such provision as appeared to him to be necessary in the interests of safety for the handling of explosives and inflammable substances in ports and inland waterways, and to alter the application of any Act in regard to the handling of these substances in these places. Orders were made by the Minister which have taken the place of the by-laws of the harbour undertakings. It is intended that fresh by-laws shall be made by the undertakings and confirmed by the Minister under the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act, 1928, but the form of the model code of by-laws has not yet been completed and the various changes which have taken place in the handling of petroleum and explosives make it undesirable to go back to the old by-laws. We want to keep this regulation in force until the undertakings have made by-laws in the new form.

A further special reason for continuing this regulation is the continued need for the handling of Government explosives in dock areas. The regulation exempts from the operation of restrictions imposed by any Act the handling of explosives on behalf of the Government and under it, an order was made in 1939 by the Minister of Transport which provides for the handling of these explosives in accordance with the safety provisions set out in the order. It is intended to replace the order by regulations under the Explosives Act, 1875, which have still to be agreed between the Department and the undertakings affected, and, in these circumstances, it is desirable to keep the regulation in force until the new arrangements are brought into operation.