ELECTRIC LIGHTING ORDERS CONFIRMATION (No. 14) BILL. (Hansard, 8 July 1890)

*THE SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Lord BALFOUR of BURLEIGH)

I ask your Lordships to suspend the Sessional Order of the 10th March last, in order to enable the First Reading to be taken of a Bill to confirm certain Electric Lighting Provisional Orders. The circumstances are so very special that I have no hesitation whatever in asking this indulgence from the House, and I believe, when I put a few if facts before you, which I will do as shortly as I can, the permission will be given unanimously. Under the Electric Lighting Act of 1882 there was a Schedule which stated, as regards Scotland, both in urban and in rural communities, what public body was to be the Local Authority for the purpose of giving assent under the Electric Lighting Acts; but the draftsman of 1043 that Schedule had evidently not been made aware of all the peculiar provisions of the different private Acts affecting the various Scottish burghs, and when this came to be considered for the purpose of getting the assent of the Local Authorities, it became evident that the Act of 1882 and those Private Acts were not consistent with one another. In fact, a very great deal of confusion had arisen, and it became necessary, early in the present Session, to introduce a Bill for the sole purpose of amending the Schedule of that Act. A very great deal of correspondence and negotiation was necessary in order to adjust that Schedule to the requirements of all the different urban and rural communities in Scotland, and it took a considerable time to carry it out. Until that Bill had received the Royal Assent it was technically impossible for the Board of Trade to proceed with the confirmation of those Electric Lighting Acts. That Bill received the Royal Assent on Friday last, and, therefore, I have taken the very earliest opportunity possible of introducing a Bill to confirm the Electric Lighting Orders for the towns mentioned, which Electric Lighting Orders have been adjusted very carefully between the Board of Trade and the different persons concerned, upon the faith and in the belief that the Bill I have mentioned would pass Parliament. With regard to the Kelvinside Electric Lighting Order, which is also confirmed by this Bill, there is the additional difficulty that Glasgow was asking in the present Session of Parliament for a large extension of boundaries, which would have included Kelvinside, and until Parliament had passed judgment upon that Bill, which it has now done, it was impossible for us to say who would be the Local Authority for the purpose of carrying out the Electric Lighting Acts. One of these Electric Lighting Orders refers to a place which is not in Scotland, that is, the Moss Side Order, and that one had to be postponed because there was procedure before the Local Government Board as to another application by the Corporation of the City of Manchester for extending the City boundaries, and if that permission had been given the City Corporation would have become the Local Authority. The Local Government Board have refused that application, and 1044 we think the Electric Lighting Order should now be granted. So far as I know, there will be no substantial objection to any of these Orders, and I have every ground for hoping that before the time for dealing with the matter in Committee arrives the opposition will be got rid of. Of course, the only way to test that is to read the Bill a first and second time, and see whether anybody petitions against them. My Lords, if this indulgence is not given, the result will be that the Cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, and Glasgow will be prevented from having electric lighting during the present year, and the matter will have to stand over for another year. Under all the circumstances, I hope the noble Lord the Chairman of Committees will see no objection to the suspension of the Sessional Order, in order to enable this Bill confirming the Provisional Orders I have mentioned.