§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Duke of Devonshire.)
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [The EARL OF DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]
§ Clause 1:
§ Extension of time, limited under special Acts.
§ 1.—(1) Where the time within which a duty is to be performed or a power may be exercised under any special Act is limited, an application may be made to the appropriate Government Department for an order under this Act extending that time; but only in cases where the time is due to expire within twelve months of the date of the application.
§ (2) An application may be so made by or on behalf of the person by whom the duty is to be performed or by whom the power may be exercised, or by or on behalf of any other person appearing to the Department to be interested in the extension of time for the performance of the duty or the exercise of the power.
708§ (3) If on any such application the Department are satisfied that, in the circumstances of the case, the time in respect of which the application is made should be extended, they may make an order so extending the time, and the special or other Act by which the time is limited shall, as respects the time extended by the Order, have effect as if the time as so extended were substituted for the time specified in the Act:
§ Provided that, without prejudice to the making of any further order, no time shall be extended under any such order for more than a year.
§ An order shall have full effect notwithstanding that the time to which it relates has expired, if the application upon which the order is made was made before the time expired.
§ (4) Before dealing with any application, the Department may require the applicant to publish any notices which the Department direct him to publish, and, in any case where it appears to the Department necessary, to give notice to such persons as the Department direct, and may give any person appearing to the Department to be interested in the question of the extension of time an opportunity of representing his views to the Department in such manner as the Department think fit.
§ (5) An order made by a Government Department under this Act shall be published in the London, Edinburgh, or Dublin Gazette, as the ease requires, and shall not, after it is made be questioned on the ground that it was not made by the appropriate Department; and if any question arises as to the Department to which an application under this Act should be referred, that question shall be determined by the Treasury, and their decision on the matter shall be conclusive.
§ EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, I wish to move a small Amendment in subsection (1) of this clause in order to make the third subsection read with the first subsection. In subsection (3) the words are "and the special or Other Act"; whereas in subsection (1) the words are "any special Act." I move to insert the words "or other" in subsection (1).
§
Amendment moved—
Clause 1, page 1, line 6, after ("special") insert ("or other").—(Earl St. Aldwyn.)
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREI have not had an opportunity of consulting the draftsman, but I rather think there is more in this than my noble friend suggests. It is defined in the interpretation clause that "in this Act the expression 'special Act' means a local or private Act, and includes any public Act of a local or private nature." If the words "or other" were inserted, as proposed, it would considerably enlarge the scope of the Bill, which would then apply to all public Acts.
§ EARL ST. ALDWYNThen what do the words "or other" mean in the third subsection?
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREThe provision applies to a special Act in the first instance, but there might be another Act, or another special Act, which had already limited the operation of that special Act. I think that is the explanation. But I will have the point looked into before the Third Reading, and no doubt in the meantime my noble friend will withdraw his Amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Clause 1 agreed to.
§ Remaining clause agreed to.
§ Bill reported without amendment, and to be read 3a To-morrow.