§ Mr. CarmichaelI beg to move Amendment No. 7, in page 8, line 8, leave out subsection (1) and insert:
(1) Any unissued licence allocated to a motor dealer in pursuance of the foregoing section may at any time be surrendered in the prescribed manner to the Minister by the dealer or by any person to whom the licence has been transferred under regulations made in pursuance of subsection (2)(f) of that section.The effect of the Amendment is to extend the right to surrender temporary licences allocated by the Minister to a motor dealer to persons to whom a motor dealer has transferred temporary licences in accordance with regulations made under Clause 6(2)(f). Under Clause 6(2)(f) a motor dealer's allocation of temporary licences may be transferred to another person if the dealer dies or becomes incapacitated——
§ Mr. John Page (Harrow, West)On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Would it be possible for the Parliamentary Secretary to read his speech a little more slowly? I am intensely interested in this Amendment and the hon. Gentleman is going too fast for me to keep up with him.
§ Mr. CarmichaelIt is probably a question of accent.
I was saying that under Clause 6(2)(f) a motor dealer's allocation of temporary licences may be transferred to another person if the dealer dies or becomes incapacitated or bankrupt, or in other cases prescribed by regulations. Clearly, it is inequitable for the person to whom the temporary licences are transferred to be unable to surrender unissued temporary licences to the Minister if he so wishes. The Amendment gives the person inheriting or taking over the dealer's business the power and the right of surrender.
§ 9.0 p.m.
§ Sir H. HarrisonWhile I respect the Minister for being honest with the House and making all the Amendments which appear on the Amendment Paper, in view of the enormous number of Amendments which were made to the Bill in Committee it is horrifying to have this further batch. I said on Second Reading that I thought 1200 that the Bill had been hurriedly prepared. No doubt the Minister is correct to make these Amendments, but that there should be so many does not reflect well on him. This Report stage seems more like a Committee stage, and the House is left in a rather awkward position in that on Report we cannot debate matters in such detail as in Committee. I feel that this protest has to be made.
§ Mr. CarmichaelI understand the complaint of the hon. and gallant Member for Eye (Sir H. Harrison). However, on Second Reading I said that this was a technical Bill. One of the good things about a Committee stage is that even our excellent civil servants and Ministers are able to learn from the wide experience of hon. Members. It would be rather unfortunate if we were not. That is the whole purpose of what some regard as our rather complicated procedure. While no one likes Amendments for the sake of Amendments, matters arise in general discussion, particularly with technical Bills like this, which inevitably provoke second thoughts. I do not know why we should otherwise go to the trouble of having a Committee stage.
§ Amendment agreed to.