§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
THE EARL OF ONSLOWMy Lords, in moving that the House do resolve itself into Committee on this Bill I desire to say that two drafting Amendments have just been given to me, and I think your Lordships would prefer that they should be printed and taken on Third Reading. Moreover, the noble Earl opposite, Lord Beauchamp, has mentioned a point that he wishes to raise, and I shall deal with that also on Third Reading as, possibly, an Amendment, after it has been considered. The noble Earl has asked me to consider the point, and I shall be glad to dry so. I mention this in order that your Lordships may rot be surprised when you see Amendments on the paper for Third Reading.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Earl of Onslow.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]
§ Clauses 1 and 2 agreed to.
§ Clause 3 (Amendment of s. 17 of Pharmacy Act, 1868, as respects sales to medical practitioners, dentists and veterinary surgeons):
955§ EARL BEAUCHAMPIt is a very small matter to which I desire to call attention, and probably it would be for the convenience of the noble Earl opposite if I were to mention it now upon this clause. There are really three classes of people concerned in this Bill. There are the medical men, the pharmacists, and the licensed wholesale druggists. There are provisions in the Bill, and especially in this clause, which prevent either of the first two classes of individuals mentioned from suffering if, by inadvertence, they should do something in contravention of the provisions of this Act, but there is no such provision with regard to licensed wholesale druggists. It is obvious that it is very important that these dangerous drugs should be easily available for the use of hospitals and medical men, and, therefore, it is very desirable that nothing in this Bill should make wholesale druggists unwilling to supply these goods. These wholesale druggists are a class of people who work under a system of licences, which are granted for short periods by the Home Office, and, being members of a corporate body, they are only members of that corporate body in virtue of the fact that they possess certain qualifications. They are, therefore, a very responsible body, and I would venture to ask whether the noble Earl in charge of the Bill would be good enough, before Third Reading, to look into the matter, and see whether some provision could not be inserted in order to safeguard them as other classes have been safeguarded. The matter was mentioned in another place, but this very useful class of people were not fully satisfied with what was said on that occasion by the Home Secretary. If the noble Earl would be good enough to allow me to correspond with him on the subject, I feel sure that we may be able to reach a solution that will be satisfactory to all parties.
THE EARL OF ONSLOWI shall be only too glad to look into the matter when the noble Earl has put forward his proposals in writing. As I suggested, the noble Earl has already mentioned the matter to me, and I can assure him that shall be glad to do all I can.
§ Clause 3 agreed to.
§ Remaining clauses agreed to.
§ Bill reported without Amendment.