§ READING AND BERKSHIRE
WATER &c. BILL
§ KENT COUNTY COUNCIL
BILL [H.L.]
§ ANGLE ORE AND TRANSPORT
COMPANY BILL [H.L.]
§ 3.5 p.m.
§ THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (LORD TERRINGTON) rose to move that the House consider Messages from the Commons giving the promoters of the said Bills leave, subject to certain conditions, to suspend any further proceedings on the Bills and to proceed with them in the next Session of Parliament. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move that the Messages from the Commons be now considered.
§ Moved, That the Commons Messages be now considered.—(Lord Terrington.)
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend the Deputy Chairman of Committees a question? It is only for guidance. I am interested in the first three Bills to which this Motion refers. These three Bills have now completed their course before the Select Committee of another place. The opposition not only in another place but also from outside parties has been so great that it is unlikely that these Bills will reach your Lordships' House in their present form. They may, after due deliberation, be concentrated into two Bills, or may be altered, or some other course may be followed. May I 570 ask the noble Lord what the position of your Lordships' House is and what the House can do, if anything, to safeguard the interests of the citizen?
THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN of COMMITTEESMy Lords, as your Lordships know, when Private Bills fail to complete their course in both Houses of Parliament, they can be carried over from one Session to another by Resolution of both Houses. The six Bills that are mentioned in the Motion are the subject of three Messages from the Commons: the first relates to four Water Bills, the second to the Kent Council Bill and the third to the Angle Ore and Transport Company Bill. The sole purpose of the Motion standing in my name is to enable the Bills to be kept alive. As regards the position of your Lordships' House, that does not arise until the Bills reach this House. If your Lordships are good enough to pass the Motion standing in the name of the Lord Chairman of Committees, the effect will be that the House is co-operating with another place in enabling the Select Committee of that House which has been sitting this Session to continue to consider the problems of the water supply of the areas covered by these Bills.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, may I thank the noble Lord for his reply? The last sentence he has used touches the point I had in mind, and I am grateful to him.
§ LORD SILKINMy Lords, may I ask a question on the Kent County Council Bill? The noble Lord, Lord Terrington, will remember that it was the subject of some slight controversy in this House. We were then given to understand that although a large number of clauses were to be deleted from the Bill, that step was not necessarily final. I do not entirely understand the procedure—that is my own fault—but I gathered that that decision was provisional and that it would be possible for those clauses to be restored to the Bill. I should like to ask the noble Lord whether he can say if that is still the position—namely, that in the next Session the clauses that have been struck out might be restored to the Bill.
THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEESMy Lords, I am afraid that I cannot answer that particular point. I said before that the sole purpose of this Motion is to enable the Bills to be carried 571 on in precisely the form in which they are now. What can be done next Session I really do not know.
§ LORD SILKINMy Lords, could the noble Lord ascertain, because it is an important point? I think that the House did understand that there would be this possibility of restoring the clauses that had been struck out.
THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEESMy Lords, I will certainly ascertain what the position is and see that the noble Lord is informed.
§ On Question Motion agreed to.
THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEESMy Lords, I beg to move that the Motion standing in the name of the Lord Chairman be agreed to.
§ Moved, That the promoters of each Bill have leave to suspend any further proceedings thereon, in order to proceed with the Bill if they shall think fit, in the next Session of Parliament, provided that notice of their intention to do so be lodged in the Office of the Clerk of the Parliaments not later than three o'clock on the day before the close of the present Session, and that all fees due thereon up to that period be paid;
§ That each such Bill shall be deposited in the Office of the Clerk of the Parliaments not later than three o'clock on or before the third day on which the House shall sit after the commencement of the next Session of Parliament, with a declaration annexed thereto, signed by the Agent, stating that the Bill is the same in every respect as the Bill at the last stage of the proceedings thereon in this House in the present Session;
§ That the procedings on such Bill shall be pro formâ only in regard to every stage through which the same shall have passed in the present Session, and that no new fees be charged in regard to such stages;
§ That the Standing Orders by which the proceedings on Bills are regulated shall not apply to such Bill in regard to any of the stages through which the same shall have passed during the present Session.—(The Deputy-Chairman of Committees.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to: Ordered, That a Message be sent to the Commons to acquaint them therewith.