§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Clause stand part of the Bill."
§ Mr. Manningham-Buller (Northants, South)Tempted, as I am, to ask the Solicitor-General to make some explanation about the application of this Clause and, in particular, the very voluminous Schedule attached to it; tempted, as I am, to ask him to explain to us what the Statute of Henry III dealing with damages to the widows on writ of dower really means, and the Act removing disqualification of Membership of the House of Commons, which is now apparently 1481 going, I propose to resist that temptation. I propose merely to say—as I think I can on the Motion "that the Clause stand part" without getting out of Order—that we welcome this Bill wholeheartedly. We hope that the right hon. and learned Gentleman may be able to ensure that the results of these labours will be available to the general public at a much lower cost than the volumes of Statutory Rules and Orders which have recently been made available. If this valuable work is to produce the desired results, the revised Statutes must be available at such a price as would make them obtainable by most members of the legal profession and many others. I hope the right hon. and learned Gentleman will give consideration to that point. I would point out that this Bill does not contain any Financial Memorandum, and does not show what expenses will be involved. I am sure this work is worth while doing, provided that it is made possible for those who have to refer to these Statutes to have recourse to them.
§ The Solicitor-General (Sir Frank Soskice)I am grateful to the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Northants, South (Mr. Manningham-Buller) for his welcome to this Bill. Obviously, it is one which both sides of the Committee will welcome. It is effecting an extremely useful purpose. With regard to the expense, it has to be borne in mind that the total addition will be 33 volumes to the third edition of the Revised Statutes. It is bound to have a fair price put upon it, but no price has been fixed. What the hon. and learned Gentleman said will be borne in mind, and, inded, has been borne in mind while these volumes have been in preparation.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Clauses 2 to 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ First, Second and Third Schedules agreed to.
§ Preamble agreed to.
§ Bill reported, without Amendment; read the Third time, and passed, without Amendment.