Lords Sitting of 26 June 1930

Preamble
The House met at a quarter past four of the clock, The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDERS (ACCRINGTON, BOGNOR REGIS AND NEWTON ABBOT) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDER (BRIGHTON) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDERS (DONCASTER, SAINT IVES (CORNWALL) AND SCARBOROUGH) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDERS (GREAT TORRINGTON, MINEHEAD, AND TAFECHAN WATER SUPPLY BOARD) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDER (SOUTH MOLTON RURAL) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDER (UXBRIDGE JOINT HOSPITAL DISTRICT) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
LEEDS CORPORATION BILL.
Read 3ª, with the Amendments: Further Amendments made: Bill passed, and returned to the Commons.

CENTRAL ELECTRICITY BOARD (INCREASE OF BORROWING POWERS) ORDER, 1930.
THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD PONSONBY OF SHULBREDE): My Lords, this Order which I am about to move, the Central Electricity Board (Increase of Borrowing Powers) Order, 1930, I think requires some brief explanation, as it is not quite the formal Order that usually comes under this category. It is a Special Order made by the Electricity Commissioners and confirmed by the Ministry of Transport in pursuance of the powers conferred by Section 26 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919. The Order was presented to your Lordships' House on May 29 of this year, and the time for petitioning against it expired on June 19. The Order is applied for by the Central Electricity Board for the purpose of increasing their borrowing powers. Under Clause 2 the Central Electricity Board may borrow £50,000,000 (inclusive of the sum of thirty-three and a half million pounds mentioned in Section 27 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1926). The necessity for this has arisen because the work of preparation of schemes by the Electricity Commissioners has proceeded very rapidly and has now advanced almost to completion, with the result that, whilst the capital outlay will probably not have reached the £25,000,000 by the end of the first five years—that was the sum regarded as the Board's initial capital outlay by the Weir Committee, on whose recommendations the Electricity (Supply) Act of 1926 was founded—the Board is already faced with prospective commitments amounting to over £28,000,000. Extra expense has been incurred both by the substitution of underground cables—while the estimates were based on overhead lines—and through a deviation from routes originally selected.
It must be further taken into account that the total net costs of standardising the frequency throughout the country will eventually reach a figure of over £16,000,000. When the schemes came

179
actually to be prepared by the Electricity Commissioners, it was found that the estimates would be largely exceeded, due in great part to the lapse of time having led to a large increase of developments and apparatus installed. While there is still a wide margin between the borrowings to which the Electricity Commissioners have given consent and the maximum statutory borrowing power of £33,500,000 the completion of the schemes in hand or before the Board will involve capital expenditure in excess of that sum, and it is necessary that the statutory borrowing powers of the Board should be increased up to a sum of £50,000,000 in order that their commitments in carrying out the schemes adopted and to be adopted should be fully covered. No objections or representations were lodged in respect of the application for the Special Order or of its confirmation by the Minister of Transport, and the Treasury, to whom a copy of the Draft Order was sent, have intimated that they have no observations to offer thereon. I therefore beg to move that the Special Order as reported from the Special Orders Committee on Tuesday last be approved.
Moved, That the Special Order as reported from the Special Orders Committee on Tuesday last, be approved.—(Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede.)
VISCOUNT HAILSHAM: My Lords, I should like to ask the noble Lord, as I took some little part in the passage of the Act of 1926, just two questions. First of all, can he tell us whether or not the increased borrowing to which he refers is to be covered by any Treasury guarantee? With the original £33,500,000 I think there was power to obtain the guarantee of the Treasury. I suppose that power does not extend to the increased amount for which he is now asking. Secondly I would like to ask whether the increase of capital costs which he indicates is likely adversely to affect the financial benefits accruing from the scheme, or prejudicially to affect the estimates as to the savings to the consumer which were anticipated when the Bill passed through Parliament.
LORD PONSONBY OF SHULBREDE: With regard to the noble Viscount's first question, the Treasury guarantee does not extend to this further sum; and with
180
regard to the second question, I do not think that the financial results will be in any way adversely affected by this new scheme.
On Question, Motion agreed to.

SEVENOAKS AND DISTRICT ELECTRICITY (EXTENSION, &c.) ORDER, 1930.
LORD PONSONBY OF SHULBREDE: My Lords, I beg to move that the Seven-oaks and District Electricity (Extension, &c.) Order, 1930, be approved.
Moved, That the Special Order as reported from the Special Orders Committee on Tuesday last, be approved.—(Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.

ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(Viscount Hailsham.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
House in Committee accordingly:
[The EARL OF DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]
Clauses 1 and 2 agreed to.
Clause 3:
Power to raise action for lying-in expenses and aliment before birth of child.
3. Any unmarried woman who is pregnant may before the birth of the child raise an action for lying-in expenses and for aliment against the putative father, but no declarator of paternity shall be pronounced, no proof shall be taken, and subject as hereinafter provided, no operative decree for payment shall be pronounced in such action until after the birth of the child, but where the action is undefended, or where parentage is admitted by the defender, the court may at any time make an interim award of lying-in expenses, as also an interim award of aliment, to commence at the date of the birth of the child:
Provided that no action shall be competent before birth unless the woman produces—

(1) A declaration sworn before a justice of the peace or magistrate stating who is the putative father, and

(2) A certificate signed by a duly qualified medical practitioner certifying that

181
she is pregnant and specifying the date on which delivery may normally be expected.

No such action shall be raised more than three months before the date of the expected delivery.
VISCOUNT HAILSHAM VISCOUNT HAILSHAM had given Notice of a series of Amendments to make the clause read as follows:—
3. Any unmarried woman who is pregnant may before the birth of the child raise an action of affiliation and aliment against the person she alleges to be the father of the child, but no declarator of paternity shall be pronounced, no proof shall be taken, and subject as hereinafter provided, no decree for payment shall be pronounced in such action until after the birth of the child, but where the action is undefended, or where paternity is admitted by the defender, the court may before the birth of the child grant decree for payment of a sum to account in respect of inlying expenses, and for payment of periodical sums in respect of aliment beginning at the date of the birth of the child and where any such decree has been granted the Court may, after the birth of the child, grant decree for payment of a further sum in respect of inlying expenses, and may review and alter the periodical sums so decerned for in respect of aliment.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing subsection it shall not be competent to raise any action of affiliation and aliment before the birth of the child unless the pursuer produces—

(i) A declaration sworn before a justice of the peace or magistrate that the defender is the father of the child, and

(ii) A certificate signed by a duly qualified medical practitioner certifying that she is pregnant and specifying the date on which delivery may normally be expected;

and it shall not be competent to raise any such action more than three months before the date so specified.
The noble and learned Viscount said: There are several Amendments down in my name to Clause 3. I should like to explain to your Lordships that these are all put down at the instance of the Scottish Office. It appears that by some mistake the Scottish Office did not have the opportunity of moving these Amendments on Report in another place, and therefore they have asked that they should be moved now. The whole of them, I am assured by the Lord Advocate and the Secretary of State for Scotland, are merely drafting Amendments, and I hope, therefore, that your Lordships will accept that assurance, and not desire me to explain the exact bearing of each one. I beg to move.
Amendments moved—
Clause 3, page 2, lines 22 and 23, leave out from ("action") to end of line 23, and insert ("of affiliation and aliment against the person she alleges to be the father of the child")
Clause 3, page 2, line 26, leave out ("operative")
Clause 3, page 2, line 28, leave out ("parentage") and insert ("paternity")
Clause 3, page 2, lines 29 to 34, leave out from ("may") to ("produces") in line 34, and insert ("before the birth of the child grant decree for payment of a sum to account in respect of inlying expenses, and for payment of periodical sums in respect of aliment beginning at the date of the, birth of the child and where any such decree has been granted the Court may, after the birth of the child, grant decree for payment of a further sum in respect of inlying expenses, and may review and alter the periodical sums so decerned for in respect of aliment.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing subsection it shall not be competent to raise any action of affiliation and aliment before the birth of the child unless the pursuer")
Clause 3, page 2, lines 36 and 37, leave out from ("magistrate") to ("and") in line 37, and insert ("that the defender is the father of the chill")
line 42, leave out from beginning to ("more"), and insert ("and it shall not be competent to raise any such action")
Clause 3, page 2, line 43, leave out from ("date") to end of line, and insert ("so specified").—(Viscount Hailsham.)
On Question, Amendments agreed to.
Clause 3, as amended, agreed to.
Remaining clauses agreed to.

PEERS' WAR MEMORIAL.
LORD CAWLEY LORD CAWLEY rose to ask the Chairman of Committees if he can inform the House what progress is being made in regard to the House of Lords War Memorial. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I asked this same Question two years ago. In answer, the Lord Chairman, after referring to the Report of the Committee appointed to deal with the matter, said:—
"It is quite true that the design for the statue has been accepted, and I understand that the large model has made very good progress in the hands of the sculptor, Mr. Tweed."
This was two years ago, and I hope the Lord Chairman will be able to tell us something more definite to-day. It is now eleven years since the money was subscribed for the Memorial. Many who subscribed to it have passed away, and

183
if more progress is not made than has been made so far we shall all be in our graves before the Memorial is erected. I understand that the delay is due to the sculptor. I do not know whether Mr. Tweed is one of those artists who think themselves superior to all the rules that bind business men, and considers that, although he takes a contract to do certain work, there is no particular obligation to fulfil it; but a contract is a contract, and, whether he is a business man or an artist, if he undertakes a coin, mission and enters into a contract he is under an obligation to carry it out. As far as I can see, Mr. Tweed does not seem to put himself in that category.
THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE): My Lords, I hope the answer which I am able to give in a few words will be satisfactory to the noble Lord and to your Lord ships. I quite appreciate the fact that is in the noble Lord's mind. Your Lordships will remember that when we reported to your Lordships last, in December, 1928, we established the position that, the Committee had done everything that it could do for the moment and that the matter was then in the hands of the artist. I had a letter from the artist this morning. Perhaps I ought to say that the noble Lord gave Notice of his Question earlier in the Session and I desire to express my sympathy with him in respect of the reason which has delayed the answer to the Question until now. I wrote to the artist when the
184
noble Lord first gave Notice of his Question and he replied that he hoped to have a full-sized model of the War Memorial ready shortly at his studio.
As soon as the noble Lord gave Notice of his Question for the second time I communicated with Mr. Tweed, and he has written to me saying that he has made some progress with the figures. My noble friend Lord Lucan saw Mr. Tweed this morning and brings still later news, which is to the effect that in about a fortnight's time Mr. Tweed hopes to invite your Lordships' Committee—I dare say the noble Lord will be interested to hear that—to go down to see the figures in the studio. I understand Mr. Tweed is hard at work on the statue and that he is doing no other work. I hope, therefore, that there will be some progress very shortly towards the ultimate ambition which, of course, we all have of seeing the statue in its proper place and seeing your Lordships' War Memorial completed. I think that is a little more news than we had to present on the last occasion, and I hope the noble Lord will be satisfied with the few words that I have been able to say.
LORD CAWLEY: My Lords, I beg to thank the noble Earl the Lord Chairman for his answer to my Question. I hope he will insist upon these promises being carried out without undue delay.
House adjourned at twenty-five minutes before five o'clock.