§ 9.0 p.m.
§ Mr. J. P. W. MallalieuI beg to move Amendment No. 30, in page 21, line 27, to leave out Clause 38.
Clause 38 is in a form which has been used in recent years in the many Acts of Parliament which have conferred powers on the Board of Trade. I am sure that the House will agree that it is both unnecessary and rather a bore to repeat an identical provision in statute after statute. It is for this reason that Clause 14 of the Industrial Expansion Bill provides that, for the purposes of that Act and any other Act passed before or after that Act, any functions given to the Board of Trade shall be performed by to or before the President, or any person acting with his authority. The Bill goes on, in Clause 18(2) to repeal what are generally known as the Board of Trade Clauses in all previous Acts.
The Industrial Expansion Bill has been through all its stages in this House and has recently had its Second Reading in another place. It is reasonable to suppose that it will be on the Statute Book before this Bill comes into force, particularly since the provisions of the Clause 43(2) state that this Bill will only come 531 into force six months after it is passed. If this Clause were to remain, I think that I am right in saying that the Trade Descriptions Act would be the only enactment extant to contain this Clause. I am sure that it would be nice to keep a little bit of history here and there, but on this occasion it would be rather a dubious distinction.
§ Amendment agreed to.