HL Deb 31 May 1923 vol 54 cc347-51

[The references are to Bill No. 16.]

Clause 4, page 3, line 22, at end insert: ("Except that there shall be substituted for the words 'of six pounds for children under five years of age and ten pounds for children under ten years of age' the following: 'six pounds for children under three years of age, ten pounds for children up to six years of age, and fifteen pounds for children up to ten years of age.' ")

Clause 7, page 4, line 41, leave out ("if")

Clause 7, pages 4 and 5, leave out from ("Commissioner") in page 4, line 42, to ("if") in page 5, line 2, and insert ("shall")

Clause 7, page 5, line 6, at end insert ("and shall on the application of the society from time to time further postpone the time for making the deposit if he is still satisfied as to the financial position of the society, but not for more than five years at any one time:")

Clause 7, page 5, line 26, at end insert: ("(2) If a society feel aggrieved at a refusal of the Commissioner to allow further time for making a deposit under paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section the society may, with the leave of the court, appeal to the High Court or, in the case of a society registered in Scotland, to the Court of Session.")

Clause 8, page 7, line 5, after ("the") leave out ("commencement of this Act") and insert ("fourteenth day of February nineteen hundred and twenty-three").

Clause 10, page 8, line 30, leave out ("passing") and insert ("commencement")

Clause 10, page 8, line 35, leave out ("passing") and insert ("commencement")

Clause 10, page 8, line 39, leave out lines 39 to 43 and insert the following new clause:

Special provision as to juvenile societies.

("—(1) Where a juvenile society within the meaning of this section established before the passing of this Act has been accustomed to receive contributions from its members by means of collectors, the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the society before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, and if any such society is or has before that date become registered the Commissioner may, if he considers that the society is one to which the provisions of this Act ought not to apply, grant to the society a certificate of exemption from the provisions of this Act subject to the like power of revocation as in the case of certificates of exemption granted under the last preceding section.

(2) For the purposes of this section, 'juvenile society' means a friendly society or branch thereof, whether registered or unregistered, admission to membership whereof is by its rules limited to persons under eighteen years of age, and which satisfies the Commissioner that it is established for the purpose of recruiting members for another friendly society or for the society of which it is a branch.")

Clause 11, page 10, line 25, after ("actuaries") insert ("or by the President of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland").

Clause 13, page 11, line 7, after ("association") insert ("or rules").

Clause 16, page 12, line 5, leave out ("reason") and insert ("reasonable cause")

Clause 16, page 12, line 34, at end insert: ("Provided that any society or company or person directed to pay any part of such expenses may, with the leave of the court, appeal against the direction to the High Court, or in the case of a society or company registered in Scotland to the Court of Session.")

Clause 17, page 14, line 43, after ("court") insert ("or in the case of a society or company registered in Scotland to the Court of Session.")

Clause 25, page 21, line 32, after the first ("of") insert ("and rights under")

Clause 25, page 21, line 32, after the second ("of") insert ("and rights under")

Clause 25, page 21, lines 37 to 43, leave out subsection (3) and insert: ("(3) The society or company to which the assured is sought to be transferred shall furnish to the person by whom such consent us aforesaid is signed a copy of such consent and of the document annexed thereto, and shall within seven days from the date when such consent is signed give to the society or company from which the assured is sought to be transferred notice of the proposed Transfer containing full particulars of the name and address of the assured and the number of his policy, together with such consent as aforesaid, and the document annexed "thereto.")

Clause 29, page 23, line 20, after ("court") insert ("or in the case of a society or company registered in Scotland the Court of Session ").

Clause 31, page 25, lines 5 and 6, leave out ("twenty-five") and insert ("fifty").

Clause 32, page 25, line 34, after ("collector") insert ("or superintendent").

Clause 33, page 26, line 5, leave out from the beginning of line 5 to the end of line 8 and insert: ("(2) For the purposes of this section references to regular employment shall include regular part-time as well as regular whole-time employment.")

Clause 35, page 27, line 18, at end insert ("and section seventy-one of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, so far as it enables a registered friendly society to amalgamate with or transfer its engagements to a company, shall not apply to a collecting society.")

Clause 37, page 27, line 27, at beginning insert:

Conversion of collecting society into company.

("(1) Section seventy-one of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, so far as it relates to the conversion of a society into a company shall, in its application to a collecting society, have effect subject to the following modifications:

  1. (a) A copy of the special resolution shall he sent to the Commissioner;
  2. (b) If within one month after the copy of the special resolution is so sent to him the Commissioner gives notice in writing to the society that he objects to the conversion, the conversion shall not be effected without the sanction of the High Court or in the case of a society registered in Scotland of the Court of Session;
  3. (c) On the application to the court for such sanction the Commissioner shall be entitled to appear and be heard.")

Clause 37, page 27, line 28, at end insert ("as so amended")

Clause 37, page 27, line 34, after ("hearing") insert ("the Commissioner if he desires to be heard and").

Clause 38, page 28, lines 17 and 18, leave out ("and, as so applied, extend to unregistered societies")

Clause 38, page 28, line 38, at end insert: ("(4) Where any body of persons not being a collecting society or industrial assurance company as defined by this Act carries on industrial assurance business, any director, manager or secretary or other officer or agent of that body who is knowingly a party to the carrying on of such business shall, unless that body is exempted from the provisions of this Act, be guilty of an offence under this Act and be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for each day during which the offence continues:

Provided that where a person is convicted of a second offence under this subsection, he may be sentenced to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three mouths.

Any such body of persons as aforesaid shall also, without prejudice to any other penalty, be liable to pay to the owner of any policy of industrial assurance issued by them such sum as an industrial assurance company which has knowingly issued an illegal policy is under this Act liable to pay to the owner of such illegal policy.")

Page 29, line 7, at end, insert: ("(6) The court by which a fine is imposed in pursuance of this Act may direct that the whole or any part thereof shall be applied in or towards the payment of the costs of the proceedings and subject to any such direction and, subject in England, to Section four of the Criminal Justice Administration Act. 1914, all such fines shall, notwithstanding anything in any other Act, be paid into the Exchequer.")

Clause 42, page 30, line 26, at the beginning insert ("for imposing fees")

Clause 42, page 30, line 28, at end insert ("and if an address is presented to His Majesty by either House of Parliament within the next subsequent twenty days on which that House has sat next after the regulations are laid before it praying that the regulations may be annulled, they shall thenceforth be void but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done there-under or to the making of new regulations. If the Session of Parliament ends before such twenty days as aforesaid have expired the regulations shall be laid before each House of Parliament at the commencement of the next Session as if they had not previously been laid").

Clause 44, page 31, lines 34 and 35, leave out ("and be liable to be set aside in like manner")

Clause 44, page 31, line 37, at end insert: ("Provided that the society may appeal against the award to the High Court or in the case of a society registered in Scotland to the Court of Session.")

THE MAUQIJESS Of SALISBURY

My Lords, I beg to move that your Lordships do agree with the remaining Amendments.

Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(The Marquess of Salisbury.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.