Mr John Higgs: There is one small matter which I think would probably be in order, and which is rather on the lines of the point my hon. and learned Friend has just been raising. It is on the question of salaries paid to provincial stipendiary magistrates, referred to in Clause 1 (4) of the Bill. In subsection (4) the Secretary of State is authorised to make a direction as to the salary to be paid to a...
Mr John Higgs: I am particularly glad to have the opportunity of following the hon. Member for Spark-brook (Mr. Shurmer), because it was my intention to make some reference to Birmingham, and, in particular, to show that the problem which we are discussing is not necessarily confined to the narrow limits of the areas which have been blitzed. No one could fail to have been moved by the cases which have been...
Mr John Higgs: As I see it, the position which the country is to face during the remainder of this week is the position which it should have faced in 1945 and 1946. Those of us who, like myself, came back from serving in the Forces during the war would at that time have been prepared to be told by responsible people in office that following upon a war and all the damage to the country, both physical and...
Mr John Higgs: Because one has got out of the frame of mind in which one could have tackled a job of that sort. In the same way, the country will now find it more difficult to learn a harder lesson than it would have had to learn if the facts had been faced in 1945–46. One of the other ways in which we have been led astray during those intervening five or six years is that when a crisis has come upon us...
Mr John Higgs: The hon. Lady is probably right there. I know that any further reduction over and above what we have had would mean no meat ration at all. What I am saying—perhaps I am not explaining myself as clearly as I might—is that we can eat only once the meat that comes in refrigerator ships, but if the means of making our own ground more productive is brought in by ship that would provide...
Mr John Higgs: I hope long before Christmas. I should like to give one illustration of that. Under existing arrangements a certain number of people have been granted licences recently for building private houses. Many of them are most anxious to know how any possible change in the law relating to development charges will affect them. I know of a gentleman who has obtained a licence to build a house, who is...
Mr John Higgs: In reply to the hon. Gentleman's reference to my accusation, may I say that my point was that the remedies which we have had in the past, such as devaluation, which was the remedy in the crisis before this one, have simply been like aspirins for toothache—remedies which, in time, have exhausted their effect, so that we are back where we were. I hope that we shall have remedies which are...
Mr John Higgs: The hon. Lady has taken that quotation rather out of its context. I was endeavouring to suggest the sorts of things that might have been done in 1945 and 1946, and the sorts of remedies that ought to have been applied long ago —not what I would do now.
Mr John Higgs: The hon. Lady quotes the balance of payments in connection with an argument about the meat ration. I was talking of the meat ration and what should be purchased with money. The hon. Lady is now trying to turn food into money and quoting the same argument in respect of both, when really the opposite should apply.
Mr John Higgs: Looking back over the legislation in this field passed during the last two or three years, it appears that a great deal has been done to clear up anomalies. We had the anomaly that a wife could obtain an order in respect of herself under the Married Woman (Maintenance) Act, because an order under that Act was easily enforced, and she could obtain another order in respect of the children under...
Mr John Higgs: We are glad to see that this little addition has been made to the Clause, but before we pass from the Clause there is something which should be put on the record. When the Bill was first introduced into the House the tenant had only two obligations during this interim period. One was to pay his rent and the other was to keep the premises insured. There was not even an obligation to refrain...
Mr John Higgs: Every Amendment we reach on this Clause supports the argument I made to the Committee yesterday that the Government have gone entirely the wrong way about the problem which this Clause is intended to tackle. I believe that if the Government decided anew to prohibit the crime of murder they would come to the House and say that it was illegal and a capital offence to do anything at all, and...
Mr John Higgs: I had some difficulty in discovering what the Clause means, so I thought it would be better to purloin words which I have found in Green's Estate Duty, 1947. It says: Where estate duty was properly levied and paid as the law was believed at the time time to stand, it is not repaid on the ground that a subsequent judicial decision has shown the former view to be incorrect, or that (without any...
Mr John Higgs: I did ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman if he could tell us when "brought" happens, of I may put it that way. Is it when the notice is given or when the actual hearing begins? I also asked, and this is a matter which will affect the administration of the Clause, whether this Clause over-rules what has hitherto been stated in the text books to be the law. If duty is being paid in...
Mr John Higgs: The reasons why this Clause has been put before the Committee shook me to the core, and I wonder that it ever reached the Bill. One matter that has surprised me in the two Budget debates in which I have now participated has been the way in which this Government have found themselves compelled, when they come up against a specific and easily definable evil practice that they wish to stop, to...
Mr John Higgs: I do not think that either tax gathering or tax paying is any fun. I took this analogy of sport because, as a rule, amongst British people one finds the sense of justice most apparent. It was for that reason I chose the analogy of sport. If the hon. Member who has strong views on these matters I know, will follow me a little further, he will see my point. What is happening in this Clause is...
Mr John Higgs: I hope it will not be considered an impertinence for a countryman to barge into the affairs of London in a discussion of this sort. These Regulations are really made to prevent country folks from making too much of a nuisance of themselves when they come to London for the Festival. My first thought is one of regret that it should be found necessary to increase the number of warning signs to...
Mr John Higgs: There is one point upon which my right hon. and learned Friend has not pitched his argument quite high enough. We are discussing on this Amendment who is to get the benefits of the Bill in the case where there is somebody between the ground landlord and the occupant. Is the occupant to have the benefit of the Bill, or is he to be put in the position that some intermediate landlord can push...
Mr John Higgs: The new interpretation of the Clause which has been given to us has come as something of a surprise. It seems to have come as something of a surprise to the Attorney-General when he looked into the matter after what was said on the Committee stage. It is surprising that the Bill should have got as far as this without people realising quite what happens. From the beginning I have been...
Mr John Higgs: There are one or two points which arise on this question of forcing the landlord, as this Clause may do, to seek a remedy in an injunction where otherwise he would not seek it. After all, the law in this matter, so far, has been run on rules imposed between landlord and tenant. There are some faults on the part of the tenant that we proceed to put right by injunction as a suitable remedy,...