§ [The reference is to Bill No. 59 as first printed for the House of Commons.]
§
Clause 2, page 2, line 16, at end insert—
("Provided that nothing in this section shall authorise the transfer to the Trust of endowments which in the aggregate yielded in the year ended the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and fifty-two, an income exceeding one hundred and twenty thousand pounds.")
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, this Amendment was adopted by the Government in the light of the general view that there should be a specific limit on the 883 extent to which the Hospital Endowments Commission are empowered under Clause 2 (1) to transfer endowments to the Scottish Hospital Endowments Research Trust which is to be set up. I think the noble Lord, Lord Greenhill, was interested in this matter. It was thought that there should be sufficient funds left in the hands of the hospital authorities to meet amenities and things of that kind. The Amendment has the effect of limiting the transfer of endowments to the Trust to an aggregate of such an amount as in the year ended March 31, 1952, produced an income of £120,000. This is the equivalent of about 27 per cent. of the current income of the endowments vested initially in the boards of management. That is thought to be a reasonable arrangement, and I hope your Lordships will agree to it. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Home.)
§ LORD GREENHILLMy Lords, may I be allowed to intervene for a moment only to say that I am sorry to see that a specific figure has been put there. I think that both the Trust and the hospitals would have benefited, if anything, by there being no figure at all. It is, I think, an exaggerated fear that the hospitals will not be left with enough money for amenities and certain improvements which they say they have to introduce from these moneys. My belief is that if the Trust are allowed to get the figure which is adequate for their needs, particularly in research, they will be satisfied, and the hospitals will have no reason for complaint. In the circumstances, however, I do not think it necessary or worth while to vote against the figure in the Bill.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.