HARBOURS BILL (Hansard, 5 May 1964)

EARL ST. ALDWYN
My Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Harbours Bill, consents to place her interest, so far as it is concerned on behalf of the Crown, at the disposal of Parliament for the purpose of the Bill.

§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT, (LORD CHESHAM)
My Lords, as I come to propose the Third Reading of this Bill to your Lordships there is very little for me to say: in fact, there is only one small point that I want to mention. On the Committee stage my noble friend Lord Teynham moved an Amendment the effect of which would have been to give a right of appeal to my right honourable friend the Minister of Transport against the termination of harbour charges by the Ports Council. My noble friend Lord Teynham is abroad and wishes to ask the House's understanding of his absence, and I said that I would mention the point in his absence. I promised at the conclusion of the discussion we had on that Amendment, at the urging of my noble friend Lord Teynham and the noble Lord, Lord Silkin, and I think also my noble friend Lord Cottesloe, to look at the matter again. All I want to say is that I have faithfully carried out that undertaking. I have looked at it as carefully and sympathetically as possible, but I was bound to come to the conclusion that it would not be right to accept the proposal. I am not going into all the arguments about it again, but I want to emphasise that I looked at it carefully and came to the conclusion that it would not be right to adopt this suggestion, because it cuts right across the carefully considered principle which governs that section of the Bill.
I also examined the recommendations of the Franks Committee's Report, about which the noble Lord, Lord Silkin, was worried, and I found that, so far as one can take it from generalisation, they were entirely in support of leaving the Bill 1151 as it is, rather than making the Amendment. I have nothing more to say, except to move that the Bill be now read a third time.

§ LORD HOBSON
My Lords, I should like to express our thanks to the noble Lord for his courtesy and, indeed, help, in accepting a number of the Amendments that were moved from this side of the House. This is a Bill which was unopposed; it has engendered no political controversy, and I think that, as a result of the Committee stages in both Houses, it has come out a better and more workable Bill. We are particularly pleased that the noble Lord saw fit to accept our Amendment on redundancy, and also to go as far as he reasonably could with regard to the penal clauses in Clause 20, dealing with control and movement. All that remains is for this legislation to be enacted, for the operation and administration of the courts to be efficient and to be a credit to this great maritime nation of ours.

§ LORD CHESHAM
My Lords, in moving that the Bill do now pass, I should not like to forgo the opportunity of thanking all noble Lords on both sides of the House who have done valuable and patient work in improving the Bill and making useful Amendments which I am sure will commend themselves in another place when they get there. I think that this is an important Bill for the port industry. It brings in an entirely new conception of ports as a national responsibility, rather than a local one, and I am sure that the work we have done on this Bill will make the future of the ports secure and a bright one. I should like to thank all noble Lords, and the noble Viscount, Lord Simon, who is also absent abroad, for the work they have put in. I beg to move that the Bill do now pass.