§ Mr. Clement Freud (Isle of Ely)I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make illegal the publication or sale of maps that do not bear the date upon which the information contained thereon was valid.In view of the importance of the ensuing debate and the uncontroversial nature of my proposed legislation, I shall be brief.In any reasonable society there is a balance between commercial enterprise and consumer protection. There are aspects where we overdo consumer protection, such as long-life milk, which seems to have on it a legend saying that it should not be drunk after a certain date when to me it seems quite undrinkable at any time, and there are areas where the commercial entrepreneur has too much of his own way. I believe that the publishers of maps are among the latter.
The axiom of caveat emptor is all very well, but buyers who look for a date on a map are in a quandary because usually there is no date on a map. Some years ago I tried to bring in this legislation with common consent from the then Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection and the House, but when the Bill reached the Second Reading stage the Government Whips objected. Therefore, I am trying once more.
I understand that when introducing new legislation one must seek to establish whom that legislation will harm and whom it will help. This Bill will help all those who buy maps, which is most people. The only people it can possibly harm are the publishers of maps who decide to have extravagant print runs. I do not believe that I was sent to the House to protect them.
My Bill seeks to make it obligatory for maps, guides and gazetteers to bear the date upon which the information contained therein was valid. A map will also have to have a price on it. That would avoid what happened to me a few months ago. I bought a map which had 252 a sticky ticket on it showing the price of 75p. When I removed the ticket the price read 1s. 6d.
It might be argued that we already have an Act that outlaws the sale of outdated road and town maps, but I understand that the Obscene Publications Act deals with literature that is offensive on grounds other than those contained in my Bill.
The only valid complaint about this Bill—apart from mumblings from those who invest money in stocks of outmoded maps—came from a motoring organisation which believed that the reprinting and updating of maps would be expensive. I wonder whether that organisation bothered to compare the price of even the more expensive maps with the tension, the fury and the cost of petrol experienced by a motorist who is trying to find a road that no longer exists, or, more frequently, who arrives at his destination and finds that there is a new road which he could have taken had it appeared on the maps. Ordnance Survey maps are dated, as are some others, and it is the intention of my Bill to make the sale of an outdated map an offence.
This Bill seeks to do less than the Obscene Publications Act. If a complaint is upheld, no one will be prosecuted under my Bill. However, the authorities will seize the inaccurate cartography and pulp it.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Clement Freud, Mr. Stephen Ross, Mr. Christopher Price, Mr. Tony Durant, Mr. Joseph Dean, Mr. Ralph Howell, Mr. Cyril Smith, Dr. Oonagh McDonald, Mr. Edward Gardner.