HC Deb 22 March 1948 vol 448 cc2712-3

Lords Amendment: In page 47, line 30, a+ end, to insert: and any person shall be entitled to obtain from the rating authority a copy thereof for his own use upon payment to the authority of such fee as may be prescribed by regulations of the Minister.

Motion made, and Question proposed,

That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."—[Mr. Bevan.]

Lieut.-Colonel Elliot

This Amendment continues the elucidation of the hypothetical case to which the right hon. Gentleman has repeatedly referred. It is now necessary to make sure that any person may obtain from the rating authority a copy, and I submit that this is very necessary when one reads the relevant Clauses of the Bill. The Minister can, by this means, produce a new hypothesis which, as I have pointed out more than once during the course of this Bill through the House, will cause more difficulty than the old hypothesis from which he is now departing. These cumbersome calculations shall be obtainable by the citizen whenever he wishes, but whether he will be able to understand them when he gets them, I am not sure. At any rate he will be able to get an entry in the hypothetical Domesday Book which is being compiled, and I hope he will find it very serviceable.