§ 3.23 p.m.
§ Report of Amendments received (according to Order).
§ Schedule [Minor and Consequential Amendments]:
§ THE EARL OF CROMARTIEMy Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Drumalbyn, who is unable to be present to-day, I beg leave to move the Amendment to the Schedule which stands in his name. My noble friend Lord Drumalbyn and I are indebted to the noble Lord, Lord Mitchison, for suggesting in Committee this further Amendment, which in my view is purely consequential on the repeal in Clause 1 of this Bill of Section 82 of the Act of 1959. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 16, column 2, at beginning insert ("Subsection (6) of section 2 is hereby repealed.").—(The Earl of Cromartie.)
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD HUGHES)My Lords, I should like to say, very briefly, that, notwithstanding the fact that I was unable to be present on Tuesday, the House has benefited from the assistance given by my noble friend Lord Mitchison; so that Her Majesty's Government, while not welcoming this Bill at all, cannot now be described as having been totally unhelpful towards its passage in your 182 Lordships' House. My real purpose in rising, however, it to draw attention to the fact that I thought I was rather unjustly criticised by the noble Lord, Lord Craigton, on Tuesday in the course of some remarks about the lack of interest of Her Majesty's Government in Scottish problems. In the comparatively short period since he left office the noble Lord has apparently forgotten the fact that it was my duty on Tuesday to attend the sole surviving relic of the old Scottish Parliament, the Convention of Burghers meeting in Edinburgh. I doubt very much whether the noble Lord's enthusiasm for the present Bill would have caused him to represent this Bill as being of greater importance than the annual meeting of the Convention.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.