Orders of the Day — HIRE-PURCHASE (No. 2) BILL [Lords] – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 June 1964.
Sir David Price
, Eastleigh
12:00,
24 June 1964
I beg to move, in page 4, line 2, to leave out from "which" to the first "the" in line 5 and to insert:
on being signed as mentioned in section 2(2)(a) or section 3(2)(a) of the principal Act,—
This is purely a drafting Amendment.
Mr Richard Winterbottom
, Sheffield, Brightside
I do not wish to question anything about the £30, but I want to know whether, in regard to check trading, which depends mainly on the income going into a house and not upon the wage values of any person in the house, and credit on check trading is allowed on that basis, it is possible under check credit trading to obtain goods which are normally obtained under hire purchase by means of spreading over the credit allowed. I am simply asking whether the open contract principle which applies to check credit will apply to the credit trade agreement.
Sir David Price
, Eastleigh
The Bill does not deal with check trading at all. It deals only with credit sales. The point at issue is simply that Clause 3(4) empowers the Board of Trade to make regulations about the space on the agreement for the hirer's or buyer's signature, and the Amendment ensures that the regulations will apply in the case where the document, at the time when it is signed by the hirer or buyer, is only an offer to enter into an agreement and not yet an actual agreement. It is an extremely narrow point we are discussing, and I think that these wider questions are quite irrelevant.
Mr Richard Winterbottom
, Sheffield, Brightside
Mr Robert Grimston
, Westbury
The hon. Gentleman has exhausted his right to speak again.
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.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
