Fifth Schedule.—(MINOR AMENDMENTS.) (Hansard, 2 May 1957)

§ Mr. Soames
I beg to move, in page 70, line 9, column 2, at the end to insert:
In section seventy-four, in subsection (4), the words "petty officer or" shall be omitted and, after the words "non-commissioned officer", in the first place where those words occur, there shall be inserted the words "or rating".
This is a simple Amendment. It is really a tidying-up operation, for it is brought about by an error in the Army Act.

§ The Deputy-Chairman (Sir Gordon Touche)
Am I right in thinking that this Amendment and the next one to line 29, column 2, go together?

§ Mr. Soames
Yes, Sir Gordon; they do, and one follows logically upon the other.
The purpose of this Amendment is to substitute the word "rating" for "petty officer". The reason for this is that whereas the Army uses only non-commissioned officers on provost patrols, the Royal Navy uses patrolmen who are often able seamen; and we wish to maintain the principle that provosts from other Services can, if need be, arrest those who are suspected of having committed offences and who are members of another Service. This meets the custom of the Navy, which is to use able seamen on patrols, whereas the other two Services only use non-commissioned officers; but able seamen wear brassards to show that they are, in fact, on provost patrol.
The Amendment does not in any way alter the sense of the Bill, but tidies up and makes good the omission in the Army Act, which excluded any rank below that of petty officer.

§ Mr. Steele
I just want to make one comment. It appears to us on this side of the Committee that the patrolman who usually sits on the Front Bench opposite to assist the Minister in these matters had obviously been engaged in some external occupation and had not been keeping in touch with matters. Perhaps that was the reason for the rush at the last moment.