§ Lords Amendment: In page 2, line 3, leave out "major".
§ 7.50 p.m.
§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. T. G. D. Galbraith)I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
This Amendment meets an undertaking which I gave during the recommittal stage of the Bill.
§ Mr. William Ross (Kilmarnock)This takes us a long way back. I am reminded of the popular chorus—"It is a long, long time". It is about five months since we parted with the Bill, and if during the watches of the evening we regain some of its content the hon. Gentleman should not be surprised.
If I remember rightly, this provision was related to an Amendment which the Government proposed in the expectation that it would receive an enthusiastic response from the Opposition. They thought that it would meet the suggestion which we had made. However, because of the strange lure of language they inserted the word "major", which deprived local authorities of a certain amount of grant. They have now seen fit to correct that error and we are glad that they have done so.
§ Question put and agreed to.