Lords Sitting of 11 October 1945

Preamble
The House met at half-past two of the clock, The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
Prayers.
Several Lords—Took the Oath.

HOUSE OF COMMONS (BOUNDARY COMMISSIONS) (APPOINTED DAY) ORDER, 1945.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD JOWITT): My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing on the Paper in my name, That the Special Order be approved. Your Lordships will be aware that under the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act, 1944, Boundary Commissions were to be appointed to settle and determine the boundaries of the various Parliamentary constituencies. By an Act of 1945, passed in February of this year, at a time when we were not certain when the war would end, it was provided that the Boundary Commissions should start work on October 15, 1946, but there was a latitude, by an Order in Council, to advance or retard the date by one year, and the object of this Motion is to advance the date so that the Boundary Commissions can start work on October 15, 1945. In view of the happy termination of the war and the great amount of work which the Boundary Commissions have to do, I am sure your Lordships will all be satisfied that they should start work on the earlier date—namely, October 15, 1945. I beg to move.
Moved, That the Special Order, as reported from the Special Orders Committee yesterday, be approved. — (The Lord Chancellor.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.

CHARTERED AND OTHER BODIES (RESUMPTION OF ELECTIONS) BILL. [H.L.]
Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR: My Lords, this is a small Bill which, I am glad to say, is completely uncontroversial. When, during the war, it became necessary for us to postpone local elections of municipal authorities, it was also necessary to postpone the elections to various bodies such, for instance, as drainage boards, harbour boards, and boards for the conservation of open spaces, and so on, and that would be done by Order in Council on the request of the body concerned. Fortunately, these elections can be held again and, in the vast majority of cases, no difficulty arises, but we have discovered that there are a few cases in which difficulties, owing to the war, do still arise. I will give your Lordships an illustration. Take, for instance, the harbour board. Shipowners, using a port and paying harbour dues, have a right to nominate, or elect, certain representatives on the harbour board. It so happens, at the present time, when all ships are under charter to the Government, that it is not the shipowners but the Government who are paying the harbour dues and, consequently, the shipowners find themselves unable to exercise the franchise which it was plainly intended they should have.
For other reasons it is necessary to modify the provisions of the Statute so as to enable that to be done which, quite plainly, we should all want to be done—namely, that people who are really interested should not be deprived of their right to vote by reason of some technicality of that nature. Consequently this Bill gives the Minister power, by Order in Council, to make the necessary modification. Those modifications will again, in the vast majority of cases, apply only to the next election, but difficulties may arise in a few cases when the Statute under which the body is incorporated provides that a certain proportion of the persons nominated should be elected every three years, or something of that sort. The matter is completely safeguarded. It is under the control of both Houses of Parliament, in that any Order passed has to come before both Houses of Parliament and is subject to a negative Resolution. This is merely a step to get rid of technicalities which are the result of war conditions.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.— (The Lord Chancellor.)
On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

WAR DAMAGE (VALUATION APPEALS) BILL. [H.L.]
THE LORD CHANCELLOR: My Lords, I beg leave to introduce a Bill to provide for the transfer to a tribunal to be established for that purpose of jurisdiction to determine appeals and references which under Section 32 of the War Damage Act, 1943, may be made to a
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referee, and for purposes connected therewith; and to move that it be read a first time.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 1a.— (The Lord Chancellor.)
On Question, Bill read 1a, and to be printed.
House adjourned at twenty minutes before three o'clock.