§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEICHI wish to ask the noble and learned Viscount whether this is really only a Consolidation Bill, because I have been in receipt of communications which deal with various intricate points in the Bill which seem to imply that it is an amending Bill as well. It is impossible, of course, to go through it in the time at our disposal.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORI should say that seven-eighths of this Bill are pure consolidation. As I stated yesterday, there sat in 1908 a Departmental Committee which recommended certain amendments with regard to the author and his royalties, with regard to preferential claims for wages in bankruptcy, and other questions that had been raised by local authorities in Scotland. These are solved by the Bill. There is one other amendment of a quite minor and innocuous character the particulars of which have escaped me at the moment, but I have them here and can give them to the noble Lord if he desires them. With those exceptions the Bill is a Consolidation Bill, and I think that the amendments are all amendments which your Lordships would wish to see incorporated into the law.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ Bill reported without amendment, and to be read 3a on Monday next.