§ Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a.—(Lord Islington.)
§ LORD PARMOORMy Lords, before this Bill is read a third time I want to ask the noble Lord in charge of it whether he can give me one item of information. It is very important that a Marriage Act should be drafted in terms which are quite intelligible. I have had the greatest difficulty in understanding the meaning of this Bill. I want to ask the noble Lord this question, Does the Bill do more than allow an Order in Council to be made applying to Dominions to which an Order in Council could not be applied under the existing Act of 1915? If it is limited to that, I have no objection.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (LORD ISLINGTON)My Lords, my noble and learned friend has quite accurately interpreted the purport of this Bill. It is merely to give effect to the Act that was passed by Parliament last year. It was found, as I explained when the Bill was read a second time, that in certain Colonies the practices were such that the Order in Council which could be imposed upon Dominions and Colonies under last year's Act could not be extended to those particular Colonies. It is in order that the Act of last year should have effect throughout the Empire that this Bill has been found necessary.
§ On Question, Bill read 3a, and passed.