§ 4.37 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the consideration of Commons Amendments read.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD SIMONDS)My Lords, I beg to move that the Commons Amendments be now considered.
§ Moved, That the Commons Amendments be now considered.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ COMMONS AMENDMENTS
§ [The references are to Bill No. 45 as first printed for the House of Commons.]
§
Clause 38, page 20, line 7, leave out subsection (2), and insert—
("(2) Any sum paid to the Secretary of State in pursuance of section twenty-seven of the Justices of the Peace Act, 1949, in respect of a fine recovered under this Act shall be deemed to be Exchequer moneys within the meaning of that section and shall be paid by the Secretary of State into the Exchequer.")
Clause 44, page 23, line 21, leave out ("first day of July") and insert ("thirtieth day of September").
First Schedule, page 24, line 24, leave out from ("and") to end of line 29, and insert ("any sum paid to the Secretary of State in pursuance of section twenty-seven of the Justices of the Peace Act, 1949, in respect of a fine recovered under this paragraph shall be deemed to be Exchequer moneys within the meaning of that section and shall be paid by the Secretary of State into the Exchequer.")
THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, this is an unusual case. You are asked to consider certain Commons Amendments to a Consolidation Bill, and our researches have not led us to discover any case where a similar situation has arisen. Your Lordships will, however, be grateful to hear that there is no conflict between the two Houses. These Amendments are Government Amendments which have been made as a result of a discovery that in a complex and difficult measure certain matters have been overlooked. The discovery was made by the Home Office and the Registrar-General after the matter had passed through the searching test of the Joint Committee, under the eagle eye of my noble friend Lord Llewellin.
Subject to anything that your Lordships may say, I do not think it is necessary for me to go into the Amendments in detail, and if it is convenient to your Lordships I will take them all 900 together, merely explaining that the first Amendment, and the third Amendment are really in the nature of drafting Amendments to give effect to a situation which had not been fully examined in Joint Committee. The second Amendment, which substitutes September 30 for July 1 as the date for the coming into operation of the Bill, is necessitated by the fact that it is desired to bring into force on the same date as the Registration Service Bill another Consolidation Bill the Report stage of which I shall be moving later this afternoon. I do not wish to shirk any explanations which any of your Lordships may desire, but perhaps you will think it sufficient if I put these Amendments. I beg to move, that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments.
§ Moved, That this House do agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ LORD LLEWELLINMy Lords, I should like to say one thing, as I had the honour to preside over this Joint Committee. This is a point which was discovered after the Committee had sat. From the Lord Chancellor's final remarks it is obviously a great advantage that these two measures should come into force on the same day.
THE LORD CHANCELLORI am obliged to my noble friend. The House is very greatly indebted to him for his many services.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.