Sir Ernest Pollock: The right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Spen Valley (Sir J. Simon) has raised a very important question, on which no doubt the House would like to have some information from the right hon. Gentleman in charge of the Bill. He raised a question as to whether or not, as the Clause now stands, the Commissioners would be bound to deal with this question of the position of women at...
Sir Ernest Pollock: The hon. Member for Derby (Mr. C. Roberts) be- gan his speech by telling us that the proceedings in Committee were exceedingly unsatisfactory. I certainly should not have used the word "exceedingly," although I could agree with him that they were unsatisfactory, and the point of view my Friends and I took why they were unsatisfactory was that the hon. Member for Derby occupied practically the...
Sir Ernest Pollock: The reference made in that Statute was to all returns, Schedule A, and a great number of other returns, and the object of the Bill was to remove the compulsory 10 per cent. which had previously been given to land and also any specific valuation which arose in respect of land owing to it being used for a public purpose. That was the point of the Statute.
Sir Ernest Pollock: The hon. Member who moved the rejection of the Bill made an interesting speech, but he will forgive me if I pay little attention to that portion of it in which he described matters which I think are not comprised in the Bill at all. He referred to a class of property which we all deplore—slum property, property which, as fast as we possibly can secure it, ought to be removed and rebuilt. He...
Sir Ernest Pollock: Did he protest and say that we were on the slippery slope? Did he say then that this was a reprehensible principle? In 1917 we were still preserving the principle of not dividing, so that it would be unfair to put upon the hon. Member blame that he did not divide the House at that time, but as far as I can recollect there was no speech from him warning us that we were adopting a principle...
Sir Ernest Pollock: I have given an extremely good illustration.
Sir Ernest Pollock: It has happened in the course of the last six years, and it will happen again, because this House will retain for itself the principle of common-sense. When I listened to the speech of my hon. Friend who last spoke, I listened in vain to hear that he had any alternative. He said that the date had been improperly fixed. One class of person may choose one date, and another class another date....
Sir Ernest Pollock: I have given a precedent. If the hon. Member does not appreciate it, I must decline for the sake of the House to repeat it. Time and again this House has in the past dealt with the situation that has arisen and it will do so in the future. You have to deal with the situations that arise from the point of view of common sense. You have to choose some date on which the Act of Parliament should...
Sir Ernest Pollock: Although a great number of hon. Members are interested in this Bill, I have a special interest in it, because I was a resident for very many years in Lincolnshire, and my early political efforts were in Lincolnshire. I know the district from Sutton Bridge to Gainsborough. I have listened, therefore, with deep interest to the grounds upon which this Bill is promoted, in order to see what...
Sir Ernest Pollock: We want to know-exactly where we are, and I should like to ask the hon. and gallant Member who, I understand, is in charge of the Bill, does he say that Part III is withdrawn or not? May I have a definite answer to that question?
Sir Ernest Pollock: Then may I venture, Mr. Speaker, very respectfully to ask you a question, namely, what is the effect of the hon. and gallant Member in charge of the Bill saying that part of the Bill is withdrawn? Does it moan that the Bill will come before the Committee as it is, involving representation before that Committee of those who are opposed to Part III in order to see whether or not that...
Sir Ernest Pollock: I thank you very much indeed for the exposition you have given. You have made it perfectly clear what will happen as to Part III; but I am a little uneasy as to Parts I and II. I have read the Bill very carefully, and, if I may say so, as a Lincolnshire man, I still feel uneasy in regard to two points. One is that although a large amount of water comes down to the drains and pumps of...
Sir Ernest Pollock: If you please, Sir.
Sir Ernest Pollock: I am obliged for the exposition you have again given on what is a difficult point. Unless one could rely upon the fact that the Bill was to be rendered as inocuous as stated, I would not vote for it. It is stated that it is necessary that this area should receive proper drainage, and we have been told there are a number of authorities who do not do their duty and that it would be cumbrous to...
Sir Ernest Pollock: I venture to intervene for a few moments on this im- portant question, because I think I should give the Committee some information which may be of service to it in coming to a conclusion on the merits of the Amendment. I suppose that in all quarters of the Committee we are concerned and, indeed, very anxious, that we should have a system established whereby an efficient system of appeal is...
Sir Ernest Pollock: What he did was to invite the assistance of the Attorney-General after the Judge Advocate-General. It must be remembered that the class of cases which came up for appeal are not limited to cases of the death sentence. Please do not imagine that the matters which have to be dealt with are always matters for the extreme penalty of the law. Many cases which have to be considered by court martial...
Sir Ernest Pollock: Let us consider what an appeal before the Court of Criminal Appeal is. It is an appeal in respect to which the decision can be reviewed and is reviewed in all cases which take place in this country. No confirmation from me is necessary of the words of the Air Minister that such cases brought before the War for a long period were very few. We have to take the exceptional cases which occurred...
Sir Ernest Pollock: There is a right of appeal; it is not a question of an appeal being granted in certain cases.
Sir Ernest Pollock: Perhaps I did not make my meaning clear. In the case of a death sentence that has to go before a General Court Martial and that is the very highest Military Court composed of officers of high rank. It goes from them to a man who is legally trained, the Judge Advocate-General, for confirmation, after the General Court Martial has dealt with it.
Sir Ernest Pollock: I rise for a limited purpose—to answer some questions that have been put by the right hon. Member for West Fife (Mr. Adamson). It does not lie within my province to answer any of the questions put by the hon. Member for West Derbyshire (Mr. C. White), but I will say this in answer to him, not speaking at all as a Member of the Government but merely as a Member of this House, that I cannot...