§
Lords Amendment: No. 10, in page 35, line 43, at end insert:
(b) section 6(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1949 (registration officers);
§ Mr. YoungerI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
The effect of this amendment is to exempt the statutory provisions for the appointment of electoral registration officers from the provisions of Clause 64(4) under which local authorities will no longer be required or empowered to appoint specified officers—that is, town clerks, burgh surveyors, and so on. An exemption for registration officers was omitted from the list of exemptions in Clause 64(5) on the ground that the registration officer would be held to be an officer appointed for a specified purpose and not a specified officer.
On further consideration, however, it was thought desirable to insert an explicit exemption in the Bill in view of the terms of Section 6(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1949 which calls for the appointment of an officer known as "the registration officer". I invite the House to agree to the amendment but to carry on under the new system the practice which we have now.
§ Question put and agreed to.