INTERPRETATION (Hansard, 16 March 1972)

§ Mr. Eldon Griffiths
I beg to move Amendment No. 20, in page 6, line 24, after 'water', insert: 'and also includes any part of the seashore whether above or below high water mark'. The Amendment, which was foreshadowed by the remarks of the hon. Member for The Hartlepools (Mr. Leadbitter) is intended to ensure that the Bill shall bite on any act of unlawful deposit which take place on the beaches.
In Clause 6 land is denned as including land covered with water, but I am advised that this is not apt to relate to the sea, that is to say, to that area between the low water mark of an ordinary tide and the limits of territorial waters. There is a possibility as the Bill stands that parts of the sea shore, that is to say, the area from low water mark inwards which is covered by the sea at intervals might not be construed 922 as land for the purpose of the Bill. So that any person who was looking for a way out of committing an offence under Clause 1 or of notifying under Clause 3 might choose to deposit waste by driving his vehicle a few yards into the sea. This waste would then be uncovered at certain stages of the tide, but would have been deposited in the sea and therefore, as the Bill stands at present, would not be caught. This is a somewhat esoteric point, but I am sure the Committee will accept it as a measure of my right hon. Friend's desire to cover as far as possible all the loopholes in the Bill.

§ The First Deputy Chairman (Miss Harvie Anderson)
I must apologise to the Committee for not saying earlier that it would be for the convenience of the Committee to take with Amendment No. 2, Amendment No. 21, in page 6, line 24, after 'water', insert: 'roads, streets and the public highway'.

§ Mr. Arthur Lewis
The point about Amendment No. 21 is that I am told that "land" might not strictly include reference to roads, streets and public highways. I do not know whether I am right, but perhaps the Minister could help us. I should have thought the Minister had intended to include roads, streets and public highways because they are built up.

§ Mr. Eldon Griffiths
May I, with permission, seek your guidance. Miss Harvie Anderson? It is the fact that Amendments No. 20 and No. 21 are, under your direction, to be taken together, but though I am bound to advise the Committee to support Amendment No. 20, which I have moved on behalf of the Government, I am not sure we should be able to accept Amendment No. 21 tabled by the hon. Member for West Ham, North (Mr. Arthur Lewis).
May I therefore assume that there is no question of your putting those Amendments to the Committee together?

§ The First Deputy Chairman
That is so.

§ Mr. Eldon Griffiths
I can give the hon. Member for West Ham, North a complete assurance that the terms of the Bill include roads, streets and the public 923 highway. They are all "land" and so are caught by the terms of the Bill as it now stands.

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Robert Grant Ferris)
The first Amendment selected by Mr. Speaker, in the name of the hon. Member for West Ham, North (Mr. Arthur Lewis) is in page 1, line 12—

§ Mr. Arthur Lewis
I do not intend to move my Amendments which have been selected by Mr. Speaker, but I wish to make a comment about procedure.
I know that we are all in favour of this Bill and would like to see it go quickly through, but I feel there should be some method, even when the House is in agreement on a matter, by which Amendments in manuscript form can be circulated so that hon. Members know what one is talking about. I say no more than that perhaps this matter could be looked at.