HC Deb 05 November 1948 vol 457 cc1139-41

Motion made and Question proposed, "That the Clause stand part of the Bill."

11.11 a.m.

Sir John Mellor (Sutton Coldfield)

May I ask for your guidance, Major Milner, because I am in a difficulty. The first two Subsections of Clause I provide that the Acts placed in Part I of the Schedule shall continue for one year, and those placed in Part II shall continue for two years. I have an Amendment on the Order Paper with regard to the last-mentioned Act in Part II—the Furnished Houses (Rent Control) Act, 1946. If I were not successful with that Amendment and it was not accepted by the Committee, I should desire to argue that that Act should be placed in Part I and should therefore continue for only one year instead of two. If I do not raise the point now, I feel that I might be prevented from raising it on the Schedule, and I should like to know if I shall be safe in leaving the matter until the Amendment has been disposed of.

The Chairman

The hon. Member knows from his long experience that it would be competent for him to raise the matter on the Question that the Schedule, amended or unamended, be the Schedule to the Bill. That will be his opportunity.

Mr. Sydney Silverman (Nelson and Colne)

Am I correct in deducing that, without saying anything further at this stage, it would be quite competent to oppose Part I of the Schedule, or, if one desires to do that, is it necessary to oppose this Clause?

The Chairman

It would clearly be competent for hon. Members to vote against the Schedule as a whole. There is no Amendment down, and the question of the Schedule retaining Parts I and II does not, I think, arise.

Mr. Silverman

I confess myself at fault here. I have no complaint to make about anyone, and I simply want to have guidance in curing my own default. I did desire to move an Amendment to Part I of the Schedule to omit one of the Acts therein mentioned. I could do that by means of a manuscript Amendment, if that were acceptable. I would like to know whether I should be compelled to oppose either this Clause or Part I of the Schedule in order to make my point?

The Chairman

I think the hon. Member's real question is whether he should oppose this Clause, and that is entirely for him. I should have thought that it was sufficient to argue his point on the Schedule, but, if he has a manuscript Amendment, though I cannot make any promise, I will have a look at it.

Mr. Charles Williams (Torquay)

May I ask for some explanation of Clause I (3)?: It states: Any unrepealed enactments which are temporary in their duration shall, in so far as they amend or affect any enactment continued by the foregoing provisions of this Act, be continued in like manner as that enactment whether they are mentioned in the Schedule to this Act or not. I think that, for the purposes of clarity, it would be a very good thing if we could know precisely how many Acts will come in under this Subsection, because it would seem to me that there might be a considerable number. I think the Committee would be quite justified in opposing this Subsection unless they knew approximately to what number of Acts it is likely to refer. I feel sure that the Government would be glad to give us this information. Although it might be mentioned elsewhere, there is the advantage that, while discussing this matter now, we could get the information in a condensed form rather than have to look up innumerable Acts.

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Glenvil Hall)

As the hon. Gentleman very well knows, this is a Clause in common form. It is a saving Clause, but I cannot give him, nor would he expect me to, a list of possible unrepealed enactments which should be included here. This is simply a device practised by draftsmen and accepted by Governments all down the years to provide that, if anything has been overlooked, the omission could be rectified.

Mr. Williams

That is exactly the point. I know it is common form, and that is obvious. It is just as well to know, in the circumstances, if the Government have anything in their minds that might be caught up in this manner. Anyone knowing the Government's mind might think that there are several things which they have overlooked.

Question put, and agreed to.

Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.