§ Mr. Elystan MorganI beg to move Amendment No. 29, in page 30, leave out lines 39 to 41.
The Clause makes a special concession for members' clubs and institutes whereby they are allowed, without having to register under Part II of the Bill, to charge sums not exceeding 6d. per person per day to players of equal chance games such as bingo. This Amendment omits the condition in subsection (2) which confines the charges to members of the club or institute concerned and their bona fide guests, but, since the Clause is not excluded from the scope of Part I of the Bill, the concession remains subject to the provisions of Clause 5(l)(a) which forbid gaming in any place to which the public have access.
The effect of the Amendment, therefore, is simply to widen the permissible scope of the charges for premises which 184 are not registered under Part II to include associate members of a club, visitors and so on. The considerations here are the same as those prompting an earlier Amendment to Clause 30. If the premises are registered under Part II the ordinary provisions of Clause 12 in regard to who may participate will continue to apply.
§ Mr. Rees-DaviesThis is an important Clause which was hardly discussed in Committee. It deals with the genuine members' club. It does not deal with bingo or anything of the sort. It is concerned with the sort of clubs of which we are members; with "normal" men's clubs which are not registered for gaming but where table money is charged for bridge and similar games.
§ Mr. MorganI mentioned bingo only as being illustrative of a type of equal chance gaming which could take place on those premises.
§ Mr. Rees-DaviesYes, but that is irrelevant because it never does take place. My hon. Friends and I are not concerned with that aspect so much as with what happens in the Carlton, the Junior Carlton, Brooks's and similar clubs in London and elsewhere. There will be strong resentment if they cannot make their usual table charges, which are not in 6d.s, a derisory amount. These clubs should be entitled to lay down the table charges which they consider to be fair and reasonable. A fixed charge of 6d. is not sufficient because each club wishes to fix its own charge.
Throughout the country bridge clubs charge from 1s. to 4s. table money, depending on the club. The same applies for poker and any of the other normal games played in members' clubs. Hon. Members will recall what happened some years ago when the police were given the right to enter clubs. There was a terrible row about that, and I recall the then Lord Chancellor making efforts to exclude a certain proprietary club. I can see an enormous row arising as a result of this provision if an ordinary member's club which for years has not been interfered with suddenly finds that it cannot charge ordinary table money.
I trust that this matter will be carefully examined, with the result that these clubs will be entitled to charge what they regard as reasonable table money for the amenities they provide. Do not let us 185 have the answer that this is not a clear definition. It is perfectly clear that table money is for the amenities offered. There has been no difficulty about it. I hope that another place will be more interested in it than here and will take it up if we do not.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Mr. CarlisleI beg to move Amendment No. 147, in page 31, line 4, leave out ' (if any)'.
I am not sure what has happened, because I understand that in Committee a similar Amendment was accepted by the Government. However, for some unknown reason in the Bill as printed and amended the words "if any" still remain. Therefore, this Amendment was put down again to correct what I think must have been a mistake, since clearly an Amendment in identical terms was accepted in Committee.
§ Mr. Elystan MorganI am not certain about the genealogy of this drafting Amendment or the reasons for it, but I am delighted to say that the Government accept it. It amends Clause 39 in the same way that Clause 30(3) was amended in Committee. It is desirable that the two provisions should match.
§ Amendment agreed to.