LORDS AMENDMENT. (Hansard, 23 December 1920)

§ LORD LEE OF FAREHAM
This relates to the omission of Clause 11. We had considerable discussion with regard to this question of the leasing clause, and in the course of it there was considerable difference of opinion amongst your Lordships, and on eventually going to a Division the difference of opinion was found to be very pronounced. There was a suggestion put forward by Lord Hastings of a compromise, but at the very last moment there was not time for the Government to give it sufficient consideration. They have done so since, and as a result in the Commons the clause has been reinserted, with an Amendment which makes it not retrospective. That was the great objection which had been taken to it here, and in the Commons a proviso was inserted in the clause to the effect that this section shall not apply to any tenancy granted or agreed to be granted before the commencement of this Act. That was in fact what I was asked at the last moment to insert here, but I did not have sufficient time to consider it. It has now been inserted in the Commons, and under the circumstances I hope that your Lordships will not insist on your Amendment; otherwise lessees in England will be in a worse position than those in Scotland.

LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH
May I ask whether Clause 11 applies to Scotland, because in the first draft of the Bill Clause 11 did not apply to Scotland, and I should be very sorry if this clause, now renumbered in these Amendments, were not to apply to tenancies in Scotland.

§ LORD STANMORE
Clause 11 does not apply to Scotland, but the noble Lord will find that there is an Amendment to the Scottish clause to bring it into conformity.

§ THE EARL OF SELBORNE
I think that the Government have met us very fairly, and that this is a wholly just settlement.