HC Deb 14 July 1950 vol 477 cc1722-4
Mr. John Hay (Henley)

I beg to move, in page 10, to leave out lines 22 and 23.

I suggest that it would be for the convenience of the House if we discussed along with this Amendment the two following Amendments in my name—in page 10, line 26, to leave out from "magistrate," to end of line 27, and in line 29, to leave out "which made the order."

When the Bill was before the Standing Committee, I raised a point on Clause 17 that provision should be made in the Bill that a wife who had obtained a maintenance order in any particular court and had later moved to another part of the country, should not necessarily have to go back to the court which originally made the order to carry out the registration procedure. I received the impression from the right hon. Gentleman, when he was dealing with that point in the Standing Committee, that he would consider it favourably, but in fact I have not heard anything from him, except a very courteous letter which he wrote to me, in which he pointed out that this matter might be dealt with by rules of court.

I feel that it is a great hardship upon a woman who has obtained an order and then moved to another part of the country that she should have to go back many miles to the original court which made the order to apply for registration, when it might easily be done in a far more simple manner. That is the purpose of my Amendment.

Mr. Higgs (Bromsgrove)

I beg to second the Amendment.

I do not think it is generally appreciated that the Bill enables the proceedings to follow the husband or the person who makes application to the court to the place to which he has moved, but that it does not assist the wife in any way by enabling her to apply to the court in the place to which she has moved. It is for that purpose that I support this Amendment.

11.15 a.m.

The Lord Advocate (Mr. John Wheatley)

The principle which guided us in framing this Clause was the desire to allow the court which made the order to deal with the application, but we quite appreciate that there might be the practical difficulties which the hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Hay) has indicated and which might impose a certain amount of hardship to the wife. Therefore, we then applied our minds to the question of how best to get over that difficulty, and I think the hon. Gentleman admits that he did receive a letter from my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary indicating the line which we propose taking.

We think that the best course for the purpose of dovetailing the two positions is to leave it to the court which made the order, but by rules of court to enable the wife to make application by letter, if need be, so that she will not be required to make the journey from the area in which she is then residing to the area of the court, if those two areas are in different places. In some later Amendments, we have provided for the making of statutory declarations, and I think that by the combination of these factors we can leave the application to the court which made the order to deal with any practical difficulties which might occur. I do not think it will be desirable to accept the alteration proposed in the Amendment to the course which we have suggested.

Mr. Hay

On that assurance from the right hon. and learned Gentleman, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Mr. Ede

I beg to move, in page 11, line 7, to leave out from "registration," to the end of line 8, and to insert: in the prescribed manner to the prescribed officer of the court which made the order. (5) The officer to whom any notice is given under the last foregoing subsection shall cause particulars of the notice to be registered in his court in the prescribed manner. This Amendment is really one of a series of Government Amendments to the Bill which have been put down as the result of a re-examination of Part II of the Bill arising from points made by the hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Hay) in Committee. The purpose of this series of Amendments is threefold. First, to make it clear beyond doubt that the manner of giving notice may be prescribed by rules; secondly, to place upon the officer of the court who receives such notice a duty to enter particulars of the notice in the official record of the court; and thirdly, to ensure, in the case of summary maintenance orders, that proof is available as required of the content of the order, and of the fact that it is or is not registered in another part of the United Kingdom. I hope that the Amendments, of which this is really the first, meet the points made by the hon. Gentleman, and will also make the administration of the Bill more clear to those who will be affected by it.

Mr. Hay

I am extremely grateful to the Home Secretary for taking up the points which I put forward in Committee. I have looked at these Amendments, and I think they admirably meet the points which I had in mind.

Amendment agreed to.