– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 November 1948.
Mr William Hall
, Colne Valley
I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
The Colonial Stock Acts 1877 and 1892 give certain powers to registrars of stocks, to which those Acts apply, to make regulations governing the transfer of stocks. At the beginning of the war the Government and Other Stocks (Emergency Provisions) Act was passed, which suspended the transfer of stock by inscription, and made provision for all transfers to be by instrument in writing. The last named Act was to remain in existence until the emergency which occasioned the Act was declared to be at an end by Order in Council. The Treasury and the Bank of England have considered the matter, and have come to the conclusion that it would be a retrograde step to revert to the old method of transferring these stocks by inscription. It is a cumbersome method, and is frequently inconvenient, and this Bill seeks to make permanent the changeover to transfer by instrument in writing.
Clause 1 does what I have indicated. It will be noticed that there is a proviso which makes it essential that in each case the Dominion or Colonial legislature concerned should concur in any change that is made. Clause 2 deals with a rather different matter. It extends the Colonial Stock Acts to the stock of Governments or authorities which may be operating in more than one territory. For instance, in East Africa there is the East African High Commission, which is an inter-colonial body functioning in Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika. There, they are interested in loans to finance the East African railway system, the development of minerals and so on. This Clause extends the powers in the Colonial Stock Acts to loans raised by inter-colonial authorities of that kind.
Captain Harry Crookshank
, Gainsborough
On behalf of the Opposition I have no objection to offer to this Bill, which seems reasonable. Clause 2 extends certain provisions to larger authorities, and to that extent is doing something towards consolidating the Empire, which the Chancellor of the exchequer is so pleased and anxious to liquidate.
The Second Reading is the most important stage for a Bill. It is when the main purpose of a Bill is discussed and voted on. If the Bill passes it moves on to the Committee Stage. Further information can be obtained from factsheet L1 on the UK Parliament website.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
The clause by clause consideration of a parliamentary bill takes place at its committee stage.
In the Commons this usually takes place in a standing committee, outside the Chamber, but occasionally a bill will be considered in a committee of the Whole House in the main chamber.
This means the bill is discussed in detail on the floor of the House by all MPs.
Any bill can be committed to a Committee of the Whole House but the procedure is normally reserved for finance bills and other important, controversial legislation.
The Chairman of Ways and Means presides over these Committees and the mace is placed on a bracket underneath the Table.
