HC Deb 18 July 1963 vol 681 cc869-70
Sir K. Joseph

I beg to move, in page 106, line 2, at the end to insert: (3) A person shall not by virtue of the last preceding section be entitled to enter or remain on land occupied by statutory water undertakers unless he complies with any reasonable requirements imposed by the undertakers for the purpose of protecting water against pollution; and any question arising under this subsection as to what requirements are reasonable shall, in case of dispute, be determined by the Minister, whose decision shall be final. After those fair words from my fair—I mean, my honourable—Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Miss Vickers) I have to turn to an Amendment dealing with pollution, but before doing so I would like to say that I do not think that my hon. Friend need blame herself in any way for the way in which she moved her Amendments, which I think she handled with commendable brevity and cogency, an admirable pair of qualities in any Committee. I was only sorry that on several occasions it was not possible to advise the Committee to accept what she wanted, but I think she scored on a sufficient number of occasions to justify her hard work.

This Amendment meets a point put by the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Dr. Stross), who was very worried lest, in the very proper use of powers of entry on to statutory water undertakers' premises, their very high standards of cleanliness might be in a way invaded. This Amendment protects them against any pollution dangers.

Amendment agreed to.