§
43 Clause 25, page 31, line 30, at end insert
and for the purposes of this paragraph there shall be taken into account the largest amounts, if any, approved in the case of those securities under section 24(1)(c)(ii) above, and, in the case of each of those amounts and the amounts approved under section 23(l) above, where the number of days comprised in the final financial period exceeds or is less than the number of days comprised in the period of control in respect of which that amount was approved, that amount shall be treated as increased or, as the case may be, reduced by multiplying that amount by the fraction, of which the numerator is the number of days comprised in the final financial period and the denominator is the number of days comprised in that period of control.".
§ The Commons disagreed to this Amendment but proposed the following Amendment in lieu thereof.
§ 44 In page 31, line 26, leave out from second 'of' to 'the' in line 29 and insert such amounts as to ensure that the aggregate payments of dividend for that period on those securities are equal to the maximum amounts permitted under section 24 above or, if larger amounts have been approved under section 23(1) above, to'.
§ Lord McCLUSKEYMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth not insist on their Amendment No. 43, to which the Commons have disagreed, but doth agree to Amendment No. 44 proposed by the Commons and to the words so inserted into the Bill. I would remind noble Lords that this is the Amendment in the moving of which the noble Lord, Lord 1199 Redesdale, won the admiration of us all and bewildered quite a few of us with his obvious grasp of an arcane and abstruse provision. When we accepted, in that state of mind, Amendment No. 43 moved on Report by the noble Lord we made it clear that we might wish to look again at the drafting proposed. I think we were all in agreement that the original Amendment was very complex and might benefit from some simplification.
We have now looked carefully at the substance of what was proposed and what was said in support of it by the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale—we read it very carefully; we had to—and in the light of this it would appear, I hope, that all his objectives can be achieved by the simple Amendment which has been proposed by the Commons. This Amendment simply refers to Clause 24 as a whole, and therefore embraces both the case where no previous final dividend has been paid and the question of pro-rating for time.
§ Moved, That this House doth not insist on the said Amendment, to which the Commons have disagreed, but doth agree to the Commons Amendment No. 44 in lieu thereof.—(Lord McCluskey.)
§ Lord STRATHCONA and MOUNT ROYALMy Lords, I wish I had not undertaken to answer this one in view of the bouquets which were passing in the direction of my noble friend Lord Redesdale, but I am sure that on his behalf I can respond to the noble and learned Lord. I would make the point that it is always so much easier to criticise some body else's draftsmanship, and on this occasion I suppose we are in the position of being the biter bit. I would simply say that I am advised that we still prefer our drafting to the Government's drafting. Having said that, I believe that the drafting that the Government have produced probably covers the point, but I should like to be able to entice the noble Lord into saying exactly what their intention is, to make it abundantly plain that the intention lying behind their wording is what we want.
I wonder whether I could ask the noble and learned Lord to give an assurance that where the dividend for the final financial period is to be related to the large amount approved under Clause 23(1) 1200 of the Bill, and that amount was approved in respect of a previous period of control of a particular length, the amount of dividend in respect to the final financial period will be based on the amount previously approved but adjusted appropriately where the final financial period is shorter or longer than the period of control in respect of which the amount in question was approved. I am sure it will not come as a surprise to the noble and learned Lord to know that I did not write those last remarks myself.
§ Lord McCLUSKEYMy Lords, if I may say so to the noble Lord, they were beautifully read; and, if I may respond in kind, the simple answer is, "Yes". If a larger amount has been approved for an earlier period of control, the dividend required for the final financial period will be the largest amount approved for any earlier period of control pro-rated for the length of the period to which the dividend relates.
§ On Question. Motion agreed to.