§ [SECOND READING.]
§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (LORD EMMOTT)My Lords, I can explain the purpose of this Bill very briefly. It is a Bill to amend the Act of 1911 with a similar title. That Act was passed largely in order to give Governors of Protectorates pension rights. The minimum period for pension as a Governor was fixed by that Act at ten years; but in subsection (1) of Section 5 of the Act there is a provision that if a Governor serves as Governor for less than ten years he may reckon his years of service as Governor towards his pension, and the rate of that pension has to be fixed for those years at the rate of his last post in the Service. The actual words used to secure this continuity are "service in the permanent Civil Service of the State," and those words are defined in the definition section as meaning service in respect of which a pension may be granted under the Superannuation Acts of 1884 to 1889. One has to turn back to the Act of 1887 to find what those words mean, and turning back to that; Act it is found that service in a Colony qualifies for this purpose, but not service in a Protectorate. It is to amend that entirely unexpected interpretation of the Act of 1911 that this Bill is introduced. There are one or two ex-Governors who are suffering already in regard to the matter, and that is why it is made retrospective. I have great confidence in recommending the Bill to the favourable consideration of your Lordships' House.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(Lord Emmott.)
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow.