§ Brought from the Commons; and read 1a.
§ Then, Standing Order No. XXXIX having been suspended:
§ 5.48 p.m.
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, I hope I shall not keep your Lordships too long but as this is a Bill which will closely affect the life of every man, woman and child in the country, I think it is right to explain it in rather greater detail than some of the emergency legislation with which we have been dealing. I take it that none of your Lordships will be in any doubt as to the desirability of having a National Register. Perhaps it is not generally realised that the only population statistics available now are those of the last census, which took place in 1931. The object of this Bill is to substitute for those out-of-date figures complete and up-to-date population statistics, which will make it possible to make the best use of the man and woman power available for the prosecution of the war, for the maintenance of industry and, what may be of supreme importance, of our 999 export trade and of our purchasing power abroad, and to facilitate the production and distribution of food and other essential supplies. The Register will also be valuable as a means of preserving contact between members of families which are dispersed by evacuation, and if such things as rationing become necessary the Register will also be of very great value.
The Register is to cover all persons in the United Kingdom, with the exception of the armed forces and the personnel of the Mercantile Marine. Both those classes are exempted by Clause 7 because they are otherwise provided for. The machinery used will be similar to that employed for the census. Great Britain will be divided into a very large number of districts—65,000 districts—and an enumerator will be appointed for each district. Each enumerator will distribute forms of return shortly before the National Registration Day, which will be fixed by order under Clause 11, and he will collect these forms immediately after the appointed day. When he has collected these forms, he will make out and issue to each householder an identity card in respect of each individual in the return.
Clause 4 of the Bill makes provision for keeping the Register up to date by obtaining returns of changes in the particulars originally registered and of persons newly entering into or passing out of the scope of the Register. Those arrangements relate to removals, entries into the Register by birth, landing from abroad, discharge from the armed forces and so on, and to exits from the Register by death, embarkation for abroad, recruitment for the armed forces and so on. The Board of Trade will establish a separate Mercantile Marine Register for certain classes of the Mercantile Marine and that Register will be operated by the special machinery of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade. Men will pass out of the National Register on entering the Mercantile Marine Register and vice versa.
Clause 6 of the Bill provides for the identity card and for conditions as to its custody, renewal or replacement, surrender and production on authorised demand. It might perhaps save time if I said at this stage of the Bill that there is no intention that any person, except a police constable in uniform, shall, under normal conditions, be entitled to demand 1000 production of this card. The Bill does not contain those words because conditions may arise, in relation to ration cards for instance, when it is reasonable under freer conditions to allow persons other than constables in uniform to demand production of the card, but the intention of the Bill is that in the street, in public places, only a constable in uniform shall have the right to demand the production of this card.
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREIf rations come in, I think it will be required.
LORD STRABOLGIThe point is this; orders have just been given to hotel keepers to make inquiries about everyone, especially Irish subjects, particularly in connection with certain outrages which I hope are now stopped indefinitely. Is a hotel keeper or lodging-house keeper entitled to ask for the production of this identity card?
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREI will have to look into that particular point, but my impression is that in the street, out of doors, only a constable in uniform is authorised to demand it. The case of a person selling petrol was given to me, and I think the noble Lord may take it that a hotel keeper would be entitled to require to see the identity card.
The whole procedure has been worked out on a uniform basis for the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man and uniformity will be assured by joint regulations made by the Ministers responsible for the working of the Bill, who will be the Minister of Health, the Secretary of State for Scotland and, for Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, the Home Secretary. Actually the provisions of Clause 3 for organising and preparing for the national compilation have already been anticipated under the authority of the Census Act, 1920. Enumeration districts have been settled, and enumerators have been appointed to them. The management of the enumeration has been entrusted in England and Wales to the clerks to the councils of boroughs and urban and rural districts, who will become national registration officers, and in Scotland and the Isle of Man to local registrars. All the necessary preparations have been made, and if this 1001 Bill is passed National Registration Day can be thirteen days after the decision that a National Register should be taken; that is, eight days to instruct enumerators and five days to distribute forms to householders.
National Registration Day would be the day when the public would be required by law to fill up the forms. Another seven days would be needed for enumerators to collect forms, make the necessary transcripts for the Central Register, and hand in the forms to the local superintendents. Then there would come into being both a Central Register and local registers of every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom, which would be maintained for use in whatever way circumstances may make necessary. As I have told your Lordships, it will be of value not only in enabling the best use to be made of the nation's man power, but in maintaining contacts between families, also in the calling up of classes as may be necessary, in the issue of ration cards, and in many other ways. I hope to answer any questions which may be put to me, and that, with the explanation which I have given, your Lordships will be willing to give the Bill a Second Reading. I beg to move.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a—(The Duke of Devonshire.)
§ 5.57 p.m.
§ LORD SNELLMy Lords, in ordinary circumstances we should have wished to have had time to make a detailed examination of this Bill, and perhaps to offer some suggestions in respect of it. The matter is, however, urgent and my noble friends and myself will not resist the passing of the Bill this afternoon. We can see certain very great advantages in the measure. It will enable the vocational capacity of the population to be ascertained, and will doubtless be useful in many other ways. Experience will perhaps reveal to us places where the measure can be amended, and therefore we do not close our minds to having a belated look at it even when it has become the law of the land, but at present we neither resist the measure nor offer any criticism with regard to it.
§ On Question, Bill read 2a: Committee negatived.
1002§ Bill read 3a, and passed, and a Message sent to the Commons to acquaint there therewith.