Mr William McKeag: Surely the hon. Gentleman will accept my assurance that I fully believed that, having handed in the Amendment at the Table, it would reach the Minister.
Mr William McKeag: May I, in supporting the plea that reasons should be stated by the licensing authority, endeavour to clear up a misconception which was in the Minister's mind on Committee and which seems still to be in the mind of the Parliamentary Secretary. The Minister said in Committee: it seems to me that the general practice of the commissioners is to give at the hearing their reasons for the rejection...
Mr William McKeag: It would be idle for me to pretend that I am satisfied with a grant of £440,000 to the depressed areas. That is the grant which has been announced by the Minister, because, in considering this matter from the point of view of England and Wales, we must disregard the £60,000 which has been allocated to Scotland. As I say, it would be idle for me to pretend that I am satisfied with it. On the...
Mr William McKeag: May I ask the right hon. Gentleman one question ? He has not dealt with the point mentioned by the hon. Member for Sunderland (Mr. Storey). It may not be within the scope of the Home Office to issue instructions to the police, but will the right hon. Gentleman consider the desirability, as far as he can, of discouraging the high handed methods which were employed by the police at Sheffield in...
Mr William McKeag: Would the hon. Member be willing to pay public money to applicants without any inquiry of any kind as to their means?
Mr William McKeag: Irrespective of what his private means may be?
Mr William McKeag: Were there 440?
Mr William McKeag: Does the hon. Gentleman say that these items total 15s. 4d.?
Mr William McKeag: I hesitate to join in the difference that has unfortunately arisen between the two hon. Members who represent Sunderland, but as the hon. and gallant Member for Houghton-le-Spring (Colonel Chapman) has spoken, there does not seem to be any reason why I as representing an adjacent division should not intervene. I support the Amendment on broad and general grounds. I support what has been said...
Mr William McKeag: This is a matter upon which I feel very strongly, more strongly perhaps than my leader the right hon. Member for Darwen (Sir H. Samuel). A pernicious system of legislation by regulation is growing apace, and it should be seriously viewed by hon. Members of this House. It is not merely a delegation of authority, but is fast becoming an absolute abrogation of the authority of this House. If we...
Mr William McKeag: I beg to present to this honourable House a petition which has been signed by 14,288 of my constituents in the Parliamentary Division of Durham. The burden of the petition is a protest against the operation of the means test for transitional payments to the unemployed, and embodies a plea for its abolition because of inequalities and injustices inflicted by it, and the danger of provoking...
Mr William McKeag: Does the hon. and learned Gentleman imply that the railway companies are under some obligation as to punctuality in delivering goods?
Mr William McKeag: We have just listened to another of the many eulogies of the railway companies. The hon. Member for West Willesden (Mrs. Tate) indulged in a eulogy of the railway companies. It is generally admitted that the railway companies are benefiting very considerably under this Bill, but the hon. Member for West Willesden is a kind of feminine Oliver Twist; she is asking for more. I cannot remember...
Mr William McKeag: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there can be no question that many cases of great hardship have been caused by the demolition without compensation of property belonging to people of very small means, and will he not consider the advisability of taking some action to mitigate the hardship that is created?
Mr William McKeag: I regret that the hon. Member for Spennymoor (Mr. Batey) does not happen to be in his place, because he made a speech a little while ago which was most suspicious in character, and in which he made it perfectly clear that he steadfastly refuses to believe that there is the slightest merit in any of the announcements made this afternoon from the Treasury Bench. He went further than that,...
Mr William McKeag: 24. asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been drawn to the comments of Mr. Justice McCardie, at the recent Sussex Assizes, as to the restrictions placed by chief constables on the issue to interested parties of police reports of road accidents; and whether, in view of the dissatisfaction prevailing with the present system, he will have the same reviewed?
Mr William McKeag: 44. asked the Prime Minister when it is intended to introduce legislation to give effect to the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance; and whether such legislation will give additional assistance to the depressed areas?
Mr William McKeag: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the report of this Commission was published in November last, and that the dalliance of the Government in dealing with it is causing grave dissatisfaction in the depressed areas?
Mr William McKeag: 29. asked the Attorney- General the total cost for 1932 of the Department of the King's Proctor, and also the number of eases in which the King's Proctor intervened during the same year?
Mr William McKeag: Is my hon. and learned Friend aware that, quite apart from the question of economy, certain eminent judges of the High Court have expressed themselves in favour of the abolition of this department, and, in those circumstances, will he consider the advisability of abolishing it?