§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, I beg to move that this Report be now received.
§ Moved, That the Report be now received.—(Lord Winterbottom.)
§ Lord LYELLMy Lords, I hope it is in order for me to say one or two words as a result of the proceedings on this Bill at an earlier stage in your Lordships' House. At that time, as the noble Lord, Lord Winterbottom, will be aware, a vast number of Amendments were put down which were totally beyond the control of the noble Lord or his Department—or, indeed, of many others. The noble Lord himself was kind enough to say that very little time was available in which to study these Amendments. I made a number of points, which I hoped were relevant. They may have appeared to the Committee, and indeed to the noble Lord, as being plainly mischievous, particularly as I had the only copy in your Lordships' House of this private legislation, which was not an easy situation for the noble Lord, Lord Winterbottom. Nevertheless, the noble Lord provided me with seven closely-typed pages of foolscap, and I am more than grateful to him. Perhaps he would be kind enough to pass on my thanks and gratitude, 474 and those of my noble friends, to the Department. We now believe that the Bill is in a very reasonable form, and we are grateful.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for his comments. I shall most certainly convey his thanks to the large number of officials who were involved in the almost "crash" programme necessary to get this rather interesting and ancient Bill into modern form.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.