§ Mr. AncramI beg to move Government amendment No. 16, in page 68, line 3:5, at end insert—
': Provided that no such payment shall be exigible where the owner took all reasonable steps to ensure that the animal was not so left as is mentioned in subsection (1) above or, as the case may be, did not so stray as is there mentioned. '.
§ Mr. SpeakerWith this, it will be convenient to discuss Government amendment No. 17.
§ Mr. AncramThese amendments will be welcome to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) because they follow submissions that he made in Committee. As a result of the changes, the owner of an animal will not be required to make such payments if he takes all reasonable steps to ensure that his animals are not left on or stray on to the road. I hope that that meets the points that he made.
§ Sir Hector MonroI want to thank my hon. Friend for his remarks. I did not recognise what I said last week translated into this amendment. My hon. Friend might have explained the details of amendment No. 16. We talked about guidelines when discussing the previous amendment, and it would not be a bad idea if we had some guidelines on clause 98, which seems to leave us exactly where we were before we started discussing the Bill.
§ Mr. Bill WalkerI thank my hon. Friend the Minister——
§ Mr. CraigenThe second vote of thanks.
§ Mr. Bill WalkerThe hon. Gentleman was not present through most of this and the previous debate. He is unaware that my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) and others spoke at some length on this serious matter. I drew attention to the difficulties which were experienced in my home when my children's ponies were some miles away from their paddock. I realised the 915 difficulties that we would cause for people. I thank the Minister for taking such a realistic view of the representations that we made to him.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§
Amendment made: No. 17, in page 68, line 36, at beginning insert—
'Subject to the proviso to subsection (2) above,' —[Mr. Ancram.]