§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(Earl Beauchamp.)
THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNMy Lords, this Bill is the most slovenly Bill that has been presented to your Lordships during the present session. It will be seen that the title does not cover the contents of the Bill, and I imagine that in the other House of Parliament it would have been the duty of the clerks to rule it out. From the title of the Bill, which sets forth that it is "an Act to amend the Metropolitan Police Acts, 1829 to 1899, and to make better provision for the widows and children of constables who lose their lives in the execution of their duty," one would naturally suppose that it merely relates to the Metropolitan Police; but when one looks at the Bill one finds that it alters the pensions of the police all over England. Further, it proposes a much more extraordinary change; it proposes to alter the pensions of the police all over Scotland. The Government have been so successful in their plan of concealment that the change proposed in this Bill was not discovered in Scotland by a great many town councils until quite recently. They have now sent petitions and representations pointing out how extremely wrong it is to amend an Act which applies to Scotland by means of a clause in an Act which apparently relates only to the Metropolitan Police. Moreover, there are divers bad pieces of drafting in the Bill, owing probably to the fact that the original draftsmen are no longer with us. The result is that we have Bills like the Development Bill with similar faults in them, and if it were not 411 for a protest of this nature it is impossible to imagine how legislation would be carried on.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [The EARL OF ONSLOW in the Chair.]
§ Clauses 1 to 4 agreed to.
§ Clause 5:
§ 5.—(1) At the end of paragraph (6) of Part II of the First Schedule to the Police Act, 1890 which relates to the pensions and allowances to widows and children of constables in England), the following proviso shall be added:—
§ "Provided further that where a constable loses his life from the effects of an injury which is not accidental, the police authority shall increase the pension to the widow to a sum equal to one-third of the annual pay of the constable, and the allowance to each child to a sum equal to one-fifteenth of such pay, or, if there is no widow, to a sum not less than one-fifteenth nor more than two-fifteenths of such pay, unless the aggregate of such pension and allowances would exceed two-thirds of such pay, in which case they shall be rateably reduced; the police authority may, however, refuse so to increase the pension to the widow on the ground of her misconduct, but any such refusal shall be subject to confirmation by the Secretary of State."
§ (2) At the end of paragraph 5 of Part II of the First Schedule to the Police (Scotland) Act 1890 (which relates to the pensions and allowances to widows and children of constables in Scotland) the following proviso shall be added:—
§ "Provided further that where a constable loses his life from the effects of an injury which is not accidental, the police authority shall increase the pension to the widow to a sum equal to one-third of the annual pay of the constable and the allowance to each child to a sum equal to one-fifteenth of such pay, or, if there is no widow, to a sum not less than one-fifteenth nor more than two-fifteenths of such pay, unless the aggregate of such pension and allowances would exceed two-thirds of such pay, in which case they shall be rateably reduced; the police authority may, however, refuse so to increase the pension to the widow on the ground of her misconduct, but any such refusal shall be subject to confirmation by the Secretary for Scotland."
§ THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN moved to omit the words "At the end of," which appeared at the beginning of the clause; to omit from the end of the first paragraph the words "the following proviso shall be added," and to insert the words in his Amendment. He explained that this was a drafting Amendment with a view to improving the clause.
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Amendment moved—
In page 2, line 14, to leave out 'At the end of '; in line 17, to leave out 'the following proviso shall be added, 'and to insert 'shall be read and construed as if the following proviso were added thereto and contained therein.'"—(The Earl of Camperdown.)
§ EARL BEAUCHAMP said the clause was drawn by the Government's draftsman; it followed the usual form, and the Government preferred it as it stood.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMP moved an Amendment with the object of making the Bill acceptable to local authorities in Scotland The proposal was in accordance with existing procedure, and no objection to it was raised by the Secretary for Scotland.
§
Amendment moved—
In page 3, line 5, to leave out from 'to' to the end of the clause, and to insert 'the same right of appeal as is conferred by section eleven of the Police (Scotland) Act, 1890, in a case of forfeiture or refusal of a pension or allowance.'"—(Earl Beauchamp.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 5, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 6:
§ 6. This Act may be cited as the Police Act, 1909, and so far as it amends the Metropolitan Police Acts, 1829 to 1899, may be cited with those Acts as the Metropolitan Police Acts, 1829 to 1909, and, so far as it amends the Police Act, 1890, may be cited with the Police Acts, 1839 to 1908, as the Police Acts, 1839 to 1909, and so far as it amends the Police (Scotland) Act, 1890, may be cited with the Police (Scotland) Acts, 1857 to 1890, as the Police (Scotland) Acts, 1857 to 1909.
§ THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN moved to insert, after the words "This Act may be cited as the Police," the words "England and Scotland." He said the Amendment was proposed in order to show the people in Scotland that this Act was designed to amend a series of Acts which affected Scotland alone. It never occurred to the Scottish people to look for an enactment relating to Scotland at the fag end of an English Act.
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Amendment moved—
In page 3, line 6, after 'Police,' to insert England and Scotland.'"—(The Earl of Camperdown.)
§ EARL BEAUCHAMP pointed out that no such distinction was made in the case of the Poor Law Officers' Superannuation Act.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPThe noble Earl has admitted that there is no precedent in previous legislation for what he proposes, and I hope he will be satisfied with his protest and not insist upon a Division.
§ LORD MONK BRETTON pointed out that there was no need for discrimination where Acts related to the whole of the United Kingdom.
§ THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN was willing to withdraw his Amendment, but hoped that in future the Government would draw their Bills in such a manner as to show to which countries they related.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Clause 6 agreed to.
§ Standing Committee negatived: The Report of Amendment to be received To-morrow, and Bill to be printed as amended. (No. 208.)