HC Deb 14 November 1949 vol 469 cc1673-4
38. Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

asked the Minister of Transport why Statutory Instruments 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796 and 1797 of 1949 are made as separate statutory instruments.

Mr. Barnes

These instruments give effect to proposals made independently by different local authorities at different dates and the draft instruments were consequently prepared separately. It is not my practice to make such instruments until the necessary signs are ready for erection. This occurred at about the same time in all five districts.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Is not it a fact that all five instruments were signed by the right hon. Gentleman on the same day and that they do exactly similar things, all of them in the Metropolitan area, and would it not have saved a great deal of paper if they had all been made in one?

Mr. Barnes

It would have been convenient if I could have done that. As a matter of fact, the dates vary considerably, and the authorities managed to get the signs from the suppliers at more or less the same date. That is why it happened in this way.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

If the right hon. Gentleman looks at the instruments, he will see that next to his signature in all five cases appears an identical date.

Mr. Barnes

The discussions and the negotiations were on different dates.