PRIVATE AND PROVISIONAL ORDER BILLS. (Hansard, 9 October 1924)

THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE)
My Lords, 681 this is the usual Motion that we always receive, or rather the Motion that is always exchanged between the two Houses, when a General Election is upon us. The Commons have had one advantage over us in that they were able to give Notice of this Motion last night, whereas obviously it was impossible to give such Notice in your Lordships' House. In view of the position that has arisen, I would ask your Lordships to allow me to make a similar Motion in this House without Notice. It is a Motion, I can assure your Lordships, which is in the usual form, and there is ample precedent for it. I have actually looked up two precedents. The same Motion was passed in 1892, and also in 1918. I hope, therefore, that there will be no objection to relaxing our procedure to this extent, in view of the fact, as I understand, that we shall not sit after to-day. I will only add that this matter has been interposed now by the kindness of my noble friend opposite, Lord Ampthill, who proposes to ask a Question, because it is desirable to send the Message down to the Commons without delay in order to have the matter regularised.

§ THE MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON
My Lords, the matter may be in usual form, as has been explained with great courtesy by the noble Earl, but it certainly is not in accordance with ordinary procedure that Notice should not be given. Of course, we cannot resist the noble Earl's Motion. It is merely another illustration of the extreme disadvantages of the precipitancy with which His Majesty's Government appear to be acting.

THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE
In order to regularise the matter, I think it would be better that I should move the whole Motion, in order that it may appear in the proceedings and be within the knowledge of everybody outside the House to-morrow. I understand that my first Motion should be to agree with the Commons in their message.

THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE
My Lords, I how beg to move:
That the promoters of every Private or Provisional Order Confirmation Bill which shall have been introduced into this House in the present Session of Parliament, and which shall have passed this House and been sent to the House of Commons, or which shall be pending in this House, shall have leave to introduce the same in the next Session of Parliament, provided that notice of their intention to do so be lodged in. the Private Bill Office not later than three o'clock on the day after the close of the present Session; and that all fees due thereon, up to that period, be paid:
That an alphabetical list of all such Bills, with a statement of the stages at which they shall have arrived, shall be prepared in the Private Bill Office, and printed:
That such Bills shall be deposited in the Private Bill Office not later than three o'clock on or before the third day on which the House shall sit after the next meeting of Parliament, with a declaration annexed thereto, signed in the case of a Private Bill by the agent, and in the case of a Provisional Order Confirmation Bill by an officer of the Department by which the Orders to be confirmed by such Bill are made, stating that the Bill is the same in every respect as the Bill at the last stage of the proceedings thereon in this House in the present Session, and where any sum of money has been deposited, as required by Standing Order No. 57, that such deposit has not been withdrawn, together with a certificate of that fact, from the proper officer of the court in which such money was deposited:
That the Proceedings on such Bills shall bepro formaonly in regard to every stage through which the same shall have passed in the present Session; and that no new fees be charged in regard to such stages:
That as regards all Private and Provisional Order Confirmation Bills which shall have been brought from the House of Commons in the present Session such Bills shall be allowed to proceed to the same stage at which they shall have arrived in the present Session, on the same conditions as those set forth in the preceding Orders in respect of Bills 683 originating in this House; the declaration to be signed as aforesaid, stating that the Bill is in every respect the same as when brought to this House in this Session;
That if any such Bill shall have been amended in this; House in the present Session, the same Amendments shall be inserted by the Committee on the Bill;
That the Standing Orders by which the proceedings on Bills are regulated shall not apply to any Private or Provisional Order Confirmation Bill which shall have originated in this House or been brought up from the House of Commons in the present Session, in regard to any of the stages through which the same shall have passed;
That all Petitions presented in this Session relating to any Private Bill shall, if necessary, be referred to the Committee on the Bill in the next Session:
That no petitioners shall be heard before the Committee on any Bill unless their Petition shall have been presented within the time limited in the present Session, unless that time shall not have expired before it closes, in which case, in order to be heard, their petition shall be presented not later than the fourth day on which the House shall sit in the next Session.

§ THE MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON
Is the Motion in the usual form?

THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE
There is one word altered. We generally insist that notice shall be given in the office here of the intention of the promoters to avail themselves of this procedure on the day before Parliament dissolves. It is obviously in this case necessary that notice shall be given the day after, because it must be given to-morrow. That is the only difference from the usual form.