LORDS AMENDMENT. (Hansard, 1 April 1919)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD BIRKENHEAD)
My Lords, I move t hat the Message from the Commons be now considered. I shall have to follow that by a Motion that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment; and probably your Lordships will think it convenient, if discussion be desired, that it shall take place on the second Motion.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR
I move that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment. In making this Motion it may not be inconvenient that I should indicate the character of the only Amendment which has been sent up to this House from another place. It is purely verbal, and need not detain your Lordships for a moment. The result, therefore, is that, on all the Amendments upon which your Lordships insisted the House of Commons has accepted your Lordships' views. I will only add this, as one whose duty it, was to take some part in the discussions on the various stages of this Bill, and whose duty it may be to take some part, in similar stages on future Bills, that while I ventured respectfully to think that your Lordships might not be well-advised in insisting upon the first two Amendments, which were ultimately adopted by this House but not pressed, as far as the later Amendments were concerned I took from the start a strong view that your Lordships had very carefully and very usefully considered this Bill, and were entitled, as a result of that consideration, to give effect to your views, and might probably influence consideration in the House of Commons. Some comment was made upon the fact that even an Amendment of my own 4 perished in another place. Your Lordships will bear me out that I supported with composure the loss of that Amendment, but I say frankly that I rejoice in its re-incarnation; and I congratulate your Lordships upon haying exercised an influence upon this Bill which in my judgment is wholly useful. I move that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment.

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
My Lords, we have listened to the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack with the greatest interest, and I am sure that the House will feel that he is to be congratulated on the accomplishment of the very difficult task which he had had to perform, for he had to associate his loyalty as a Minister of the Crown with his loyalty as a member of your Lordships' House, and I do not think anybody could have accomplished that difficult feat—for it is a difficult, feat—with more grace than the noble and learned Lord has just displayed. He has shown that, notwithstanding his position as a member of the Government, he does value the dignity of your Lordships' House and its proper treatment by another place. Our Amendments have been accepted, and we are very glad that this is the case. We are convinced, for our part, that they were founded upon such solid. principles that, the only reason why the House of Commons temporarily disagreed with them was that they were not led with that assurance and that firm hand which would have induced them, if they had given a little more consideration to the points, to have agreed with your Lordships in the first instance. They were, however, a little bit like sheep without a shepherd, and consequently they did for the moment, differ from the Amendments, as to which, on more mature consideration. I am certain no doubt could have been entertained. All's well that ends well, so far as these particular Amendments are concerned: and I should like to take this opportunity of saying how greatly indebted we are to the Lord Chancellor for the courteous way in which he has represented the Government all through the discussions upon this Bill.

Several NOBLE LORDS
Hear, hear.