KENT WATER BILL (Hansard, 30 March 1954)

THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF DROGHEDA)
My Lords, I beg to move that the Commons message be now considered.

§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYE
My Lords, may I crave the indulgence of your Lordships for a few moments as representing the Isle of Thanet, which is affected by this Bill? I would appeal to the Government to postpone the acceptance of this Motion, in that there has been very little time for me to consider the new position which has arisen in the light of the amended Resolution, which has only recently appeared on the Order Paper, the Lord Chairman having previously had down on the Order Paper a Motion, "That this House do not agree." There are numerous objectors to this Bill. There are no fewer than 773 twenty-five Petitions against the Bill, and the majority of the petitioners ask that there should not be this Joint Select Committee. I will not pursue the matter further to-day except to appeal to the Leader of the House that the Government should give greater time than we have had, so that the objectors can reconsider the new position.

§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY)
My Lords, one is, of course, always reluctantߞthat is the position of all Governmentsߞto postpone any Business which is on the Order Paper unless there is very good reason for such a course; and my first instinct would be to say that, the matter having been placed upon the Order Paper, we should proceed with it. But the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Inchrye, has put forward certain considerations which I feel that we must take into account. It appears that there are objections to this Bill and that he has been asked to voice these objections at the present stage, and that for various reasons it has been impossible for him to be in a position to do that. I imagine that the last thing any of us would wish would be that there should I a feeling of injustice in any quarter with regard to the procedure adopted by this House. In those circumstances, I think it would probably be the wish of your Lordships that we should agree to what Lord Balfour of Inchrye has suggested and postpone the consideration of this Bill for a few days in order to enable proper examination to be given to it. In saying that, I am not expressing any view about what the ultimate attitude of the Government will be with regard to the Bill: it is merely a question of procedure to enable proper consideration to be given.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGH
My Lords, with great deference to the noble Marquess the Leader of the House, who has far greater experience of the procedure of this House than I have, I always thought that in such matters as that which has been introduced to-day, it was all a question of whether there was an expression by the Government that a proposal was in the public interest: that it all depended on whether or not this was in the public interest. Whilst I should personally be unhappy to interfere with the liberty of noble 774 Lords to raise objections, I should have thought that if it had already been ruled, or advised (whichever is the proper word), that this was in the public interest, objections could best be staled before the Joint Select Committee. Moreover, as the House of Commons has already, so far as I can gather, recommended this course, I should have thought that it would be the proper one to take.

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
It may be that that course has been adopted in another place, but we in this House are not bound by that. Our object, so far as I know, is always to give every measure which comes before us the fullest and fairest consideration possible. In these circumstancesߞI am only advisingߞmy view would be that, were we to proceed with this Bill to-day, after what has been said, we might be open to the suggestion that adequate consideration has not been given to it; and I am sure that neither the Government nor anyone else would wish that. No doubt the views expressed by another place will be given full importance, but we must come to our own decisions in these matters.

LORD HINDLIP
My Lords, I should like to speak briefly in support of the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Inchrye. I have had some experience of Committee work upstairs, and I feel that many of those Bills do need looking into twice. I remember one Bill, in particular, some few years ago which was hotly contested in another place. When the Bill came here it was referred to a very strong Select Committee of your Lordships' House, and those clauses which had been hotly contested were finally disposed of amicably. It appears to me that there is a great deal of argument about certain parts of this Bill, and I feel that it would be fairer to all parties if this Bill went through the normal course of being considered separately by both Houses of Parliament.

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
My Lords, I beg formally to move, That consideration of the Commons Message be postponed.