Orders of the Day — Public Libraries and Museums Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 February 1964.

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Photo of Sir Arthur Harvey Sir Arthur Harvey , Macclesfield 12:00, 5 February 1964

I hope the hon. Member for Dartford (Mr. Sydney Irving) will forgive me if I do not follow the course of his speech. I agree with much of what he said but I wish to confine myself to a narrow aspect of the Bill.

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on introducing the Bill, but I think he has been a little hard on the House in giving us only two days in which to study it. This takes my mind back to the period of 1945 to 1950 when Lord Morrison, who was then in this House, used to present a Bill on a Friday and tell us that we had to do some homework over the weekend in order to get busy by the following Monday. We do not want to follow that practice. It has meant long, expensive telephone calls with my town clerk in order to study the matter. I believe that many hon. Members have been in a similar position. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary is to be congratulated on the way in which he introduced the Bill, but he gave no explanation for the rapidity with which it is being rushed through the House.

I agree with what the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Blackburn) and my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Sir C. Mott-Radclyffe) said about this Bill. Certain Clauses seem to need clarifying. I am one who does not get on well with county authorities. My right hon. Friend the Minister has a long file from me dealing with the education authorities of Chester. I have not a great deal of confidence in them. They know that, so there is no harm in my saying it. I am reluctant to see additional powers given to county authorities when things can be done by county boroughs, as in the case of Macclesfield.

Clause 23 says: This Act shall come into force on such date not earlier than 1st April 1965. The Registrar-General's estimates up to the middle of a year are usually published in May of the following year, so on 1st April, 1965, the estimate then current is likely to be that for mid-1963. I hope the House will forgive me for referring to local matters, for this is a real problem in Macclesfield. The population there by mid-1962 was 37,610. It has been steadily rising for a number of years and on 17th February 1964, the first tenant in the overspill—horrible word—from Manchester will move into a new house in the borough. He will be the first of probably 5,000 to come to Macclesfield from Manchester to occupy 1,250 homes.