HC Deb 24 June 1964 vol 697 cc491-3
Mr. D. Price

I beg to move, in page 4, line 2, to leave out from "which" to the first "the" in line 5 and to insert: on being signed as mentioned in section 2(2)(a) or section 3(2)(a) of the principal Act,—

  1. (a) constitutes a hire-purchase agreement to which that Act applies, or
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  2. (b) constitutes a credit-sale agreement to which that Act applies under which the total purchase price exceeds £30".
This is purely a drafting Amendment.

Mr. Winterbottom

I do not wish to question anything about the £30, but I want to know whether, in regard to check trading, which depends mainly on the income going into a house and not upon the wage values of any person in the house, and credit on check trading is allowed on that basis, it is possible under check credit trading to obtain goods which are normally obtained under hire purchase by means of spreading over the credit allowed. I am simply asking whether the open contract principle which applies to check credit will apply to the credit trade agreement.

Mr. D. Price

The Bill does not deal with check trading at all. It deals only with credit sales. The point at issue is simply that Clause 3(4) empowers the Board of Trade to make regulations about the space on the agreement for the hirer's or buyer's signature, and the Amendment ensures that the regulations will apply in the case where the document, at the time when it is signed by the hirer or buyer, is only an offer to enter into an agreement and not yet an actual agreement. It is an extremely narrow point we are discussing, and I think that these wider questions are quite irrelevant.

Mr. Winterbottomrose—

Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Sir Robert Grimston)

The hon. Gentleman has exhausted his right to speak again.

Amendment agreed to.