CHARTERED AND OTHER BODIES (RESUMPTION OF ELECTIONS) BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 11 October 1945)

§ 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.