§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(Lord Merthyr.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly:
§ [THE EARL OF ONSLOW in the Chair].
§ Clause 1:
§ Power of Board of Trade to restrict excavation, &c., of materials on or under the seashore.
§ 1.—(1) Where the Board of Trade are of opinion that it is desirable for the protection of any part of the coast of Great Britain from erosion, or for the prevention of damage to any lands including harbour works by the action of the sea, that such an order as is hereinafter mentioned should be made, the Board may, subject to compliance with the provisions contained in the First Schedule to this Act (relating to procedure, the holding of public inquiries, and the approval of orders by Parliament) by order prohibit, restrict or impose conditions as to the excavation, removal or other disturbance of all or any materials, on, under or forming part of such portions of the seashore as may be specified in the order, except minerals more than fifty feet below the surface:
§ Provided that where the Board are satisfied that on account of urgency it is expedient that an order should be made forthwith, they may make an interim order without complying with the provisions contained in the said Schedule: but any such interim order shall only continue in force until an order made in compliance with such provisions as aforesaid comes into force or until the Board have decided that it is not expedient that such an order should be made, and if no such order comes into force within six months after the making of the interim order, the Board shall be deemed to have decided that it is not expedient to make an order.
§ (2) An order under this section may be revoked, or amended by a subsequent order made in like manner and subject to the like procedure as the original order.
§ (6) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section an order made thereunder which amends or repeals a provision in a public, general, or local or private Act shall if opposed be provisional only and shall not have effect until confirmed by Parliament and the provisions contained in paragraphs sev[...] 717 to nine of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to such order:
§ Provided that this subsection shall not apply to an interim order made under the proviso to subsection (1) of this section.
§ 4.22 p.m.
LORD MERTHYRThe Amendment in subsection (1), after "approval," to insert "or confirmation," is purely a drafting Amendment, necessitated by the fact that the Schedule to this Bill deals with Provisional Order machinery. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 1, line 14, after ("approval") insert ("or confirmation").—(Lord Merthyr.)
§ LORD TEMPLEMOREI think this Amendment would be a good opportunity for me to express the views of His Majesty's Government on the Amendments on the Paper, and then I need not trouble your Lordships again. Your Lordships will remember—at any rate my noble friend will remember—that in the debate on the Second Reading of this Bill last month I informed the House that His Majesty's Government thought that some Amendments would be necessary on the Committee stage in order to improve the Bill and make it a workable measure. I have to inform the Committee that His Majesty's Government entirely approve of the Amendments put down by the noble Lord, and support them all.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD MERTHYR moved, in the proviso in subsection (1), to leave out "comes into force" and insert "is made by the Board." The noble Lord said: This Amendment is necessitated by the fact that Provisional Order machinery is inserted in the Schedule. It is necessary because it might not be possible to pass a Bill into law until the end of a period longer than six months after the Order had first been made. It is therefore suggested that the words "is made by the Board" should be used instead of "comes into force." Otherwise if it were necessary to make a Provisional Order, the interim Order which was made in the emergency might cease to have effect because the period of six months was inserted in the Bill. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 5, leave out ("comes into force") and insert ("is made by the Board").—(Lord Merthyr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
718§ LORD MERTHYR moved, in subsection (2), after "section" to insert "whether or not confirmed by Parliament." The noble Lord said: I will ask the Committee to consider this Amendment together with the one next following. They are designed to procure equality of treatment, which it is thought could not be relied upon under the Bill as drafted now. The procedure ensures that where objection is raised to an Order on the ground that statutory rights will be affected, the Order shall not come into force until confirmed by Parliament. Under this subsection as now drafted, an amending Order affecting statutory rights would not require to be confirmed by Parliament even though objection were raised if the original Order had not itself been subject to the Provisional Order procedure but had been made after being approved by affirmative Resolution of both Houses. Again, a case might arise where the Board desired to revoke an Order and was willing to do so, and all the parties concerned were quite willing that it should be revoked, but it could not, without a confirming Act, be done unless this Amendment were passed. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 9, after ("section") insert ("whether or not confirmed by Parliament").—(Lord Merthyr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 10, leave out from ("made") to the end of line 11 and insert ("under and in accordance with this section").—(Lord Merthyr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD MERTHYR moved to leave out subsection (6). The noble Lord said: The sole reason why it is proposed to leave out this subsection is that it is considered to be entirely unnecessary. The interests of parties affected are, it is submitted, entirely covered by the First Schedule to this Bill, and subsection (6) therefore becomes, in my opinion, entirely superfluous. The Schedule provides that if there is any objection to an Order by the Board, a Provisional Order can be made, which can only be confirmed by an Act of Parliament. For those reasons I beg to move.
719
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 39, leave out subsection (6).—(Lord Merthyr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 1, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 2 [Savings]:
§
LORD MERTHYR moved, after subsection (1), to insert:
(2) Nothing in this Act or any order made thereunder shall affect any powers or duties of the Postmaster General under the provisions of the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1926.
The noble Lord said: This Amendment is designed to meet the requirements of the Post Office. There are one or two precedents—very recent ones—for such an Amendment, and I take it that there will be little objection to this Amendment being inserted. In the Ribbon Development Act, 1935, and in the Lindsey County Council (Sandhills) Act, 1932, which dealt with very similar situations, this provision was inserted. It was done at the request of the Post Office, and I would ask the Committee to agree to the Amendment. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 5, line 9, at end insert the said new subsection.—(Lord Merthyr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining clauses agreed to.
§ First Schedule:
-
cc719-22
- FIRST SCHEDULE. 1,151 words c722
- PROVISIONAL ORDERS. 36 words