Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: That shows the danger of the somewhat evasive secrecy practised by Government Departments in matters of such importance. I will not attempt to go into all the details of the scheme, but it goes on to provide that a selling control committee is to be established, that two members of the committee are to be a quorum, and that in some cases there may be a quorum of one—that committee is to...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I well understand that what I have been quoting is a draft. It is dated 30th May, and I am informed it has been under careful and meticulous consideration by officials of the Mines Department and by officials of the local district board and that it is substantially what they hope to put forward.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I have the scheme from the hand of a legal gentleman who is advising his clients in one of the districts. I stand by what I have said. There are other schemes and, as Don Quixote said of scorpions: cado uno como Dios le hizo aun pejor muchas veces. "Each one like God made him, only much worse." Unless there is some sort of public control over these schemes which as they stand are wholly in...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: The more unification one gets, the more cumbrous the scheme becomes, and now that German administration has been completely unified the difficulties of the system become greater, as I fear we may get them here before long. There is much else that might usefully be said with regard to the schemes themselves. The declared intention of the Central Scheme is to raise prices, and I think it is...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I doubt whether it is a good thing to take an old factory and devote it to a new purpose, and I fancy this would be a somewhat analogous proceeding to that. Besides, this machinery, outside its headpiece, is somewhat different in the one case from the other. The root trouble, as has been said again and again, is not the inland market but the export market. The demand has fallen by some 15 per...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I was careful to say that I did not get it from a Government Department, and I did not ask a Government Department to give it.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: My whole point was that the distributors were being eliminated by the coalowners, at their own discretion, and not by public bodies.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: In order to facilitate the course of the Debate, and as further opportunities will before long arise when these matters can be further discussed, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: Is the Postmaster-General aware of the great importance that is attached to this question both in Broadcasting House and elsewhere?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time." The position, as I read the Bill—and I have been at some pains to study it—is that until a definite scheme can be passed and approved by the Charity Commissioners, they have not provisional powers to sanction schemes that may be put before them. In one or two cases that have come within my personal knowledge, the Charity...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: In view of the explanation of the Attorney-General I should not venture to press the new Clause on the House, but I confess that had the Bill been in the form in which it was originally presented in another place, and not in its present form, I should have greater confidence in the validity of the explanation of the hon. and learned Gentleman. Clause 4 says: The Charity Commissioners shall...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I beg to move, in page 2, line 7, after "may" insert, "with the consent of the Ministry of Health." This Amendment raises a very important point which has not been considered either on the Second Reading of the Bill or in Standing Committee. The Bill was read a Second time without any hon. Member rising to debate it, and in Standing Committee it was passed without a Division after a few...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: It is true that I did not put down these Amendments until last night, but that was through no desire for obstruction and no feeling of contumacy, but simple; because the report of the proceedings in Committee had not reached me in printed form. Only after some trouble was I able to unearth it from the archives of the Library in manuscript. Upon reading it, I found that this point had been...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I beg to move, in page 2, line 26, after "to," to insert: the county or borough council in whose area the hospital is situated and This Amendment raises the point which has already been referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Bethnal Green (Sir P. Harris), and its object is to give the local authorities some say in the matter before the Charity Commissioners exercise their...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: The promoter of the Bill has made it clear that the consultation with local authorities, which is generally desired, is possible and would be arranged if necessary by the Charity Commissioners under the last two lines of the Clause. That being the case, I do not propose to press the Amendment, but I beg the House to realise that this Debate has served a useful purpose because it has made...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I beg to move, in page 4, line 27, at the end, to insert: and shall be notified in the London Gazette and in such local papers as the Charity Commissioners may direct. The principle underlying this Amendment was discussed not long ago on the Ribbon Development Act, and I think from what was said then that there is a strong case for giving the public at large information as to what is being...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: It must be many years since any hon. Member has presented twin Bills to the House on a single Friday, with every prospect of seeing them both passed the same afternoon, and I should like to join with my hon. Friend the Member for Westhoughton (Mr. Rhys Davies) in congratulating the promoter on two exceedingly healthy twins. But there is one serious defect which I will mention. I regret that I...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time." It has been a very widespread difficulty on every Bench in the Kingdom for many years past that licences are renewed on any date. Men and women absentmindedly forget to renew their licences and drive for six months or even a year—I have known a case of so driving, for as long as 18 months—without making any attempt to renew their...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: Will the hon. Member indicate the authority under which the Minister can act in this matter?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson: In view of the most satisfactory statement of the Parliamentary Secretary, for which I thank him, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment. Motion and Clause, by leave, withdrawn.