HC Deb 07 December 1950 vol 482 cc654-5

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

Mr. Manningham-Buller

I should like the right hon. and learned Gentleman to tell the Committee to which of the pensions set out in the list in HANSARD of 24th November this Clause applies. I should be interested to know which of the pensions of the officers specified in that schedule require the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor or of any other Minister.

The Attorney-General

I do not object at all to this question, which is purely a drafting point. I do not want to take up time discussing other aspects of this Bill, but I must say that we have made better progress today, and I did feel during our earlier discussion in Committee that if judges had been listening to the speeches of hon. Members opposite, or had read their speeches in HANSARD, they might well have said, "Save us from our friends."

This Clause assimilates the machinery for the granting of lump sums of widows' or children's pensions to the machinery which already exists in certain cases. For instance, under the County Court Act, 1934, there is express provision that the Lord Chancellor may from time to time recommend to the Treasury that there shall be paid to any judge an annual sum by way of pension, and the effect of this Clause is that the Lord Chancellor makes a similar recommendation. Similar provisions are contained in the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act, and we have had to follow the same procedure.

Question put, and agreed to.

Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.