Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.
I never said anything of the kind, nor do I intend anything of the kind to be understood from what I say. These companies have statutory rights, and if the House is to interfere with statutory rights it must do so with great care. Clause 15 has been given to them in another place. By that Clause the Government stand. If a concession is to be made it must be made by them, and on that point I will read some passages from the discussion in Committee. Speaking on the 5th of this month, I said:
Still, it does seem me that there is room for consideration of words, to see whether it is not possible, with the good will of everybody, to get a Clause which shall in no way destroy the advantages which the Government conceded in another place, and yet, at the came time, shell make it quite clear that the rights of the consumer, who is, ultimately, the real person to be considered, shall not be prejudiced, I cannot accept the Amendment moved by my hon. Friend, but I hope that the discussion will throw light upon the matter, and that finally, we may be able, at a later stage, to get words satisfactory to everybody."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, Standing Committee C. 5th July, 1922; col. 96.]
In the course of the Debate my hon. Friend the Member for the Moseley Division of Birmingham (Mr. Hannon) said:
I hope that this controversy will be brought to a close and that the Parliamentary Secretary will meet the various interests in the spirit which he suggested and that a solution will be found, but that solution must not lose sight of the interests of those people who have put their capital into this industry and have taken the risk of making the industry what it is to-day.
Then the hon. Member for Central Portsmouth (Sir T. Bramsdon) said:
I am grateful to the Parliamentary Secretary for accepting the suggestion I made, and I am sure he is anxious to meet the wishes of all parties. I take it that the whole of the points that are raised in connection with Clause 16 will be considered by him at the conference, and that all parties who are directly interested in various ways will join him.
To that I said:
I may have separate conferences.
The hon. Member for Portsmouth then said:
As far as the hon. Member is able consistently to meet the various parties lie will de so."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, Standing Committee C, 5th July, 1922, col. 116.]
Had I failed to meet those persons who are interested I should have definitely gone back on my pledge. This Clause meets the approval of the Power Companies' Association, of which my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead (Mr. G. Balfour) is a member. I regret that he was not consulted. Apparently he was not in his place during the last few days. I should have been glad to see him, and confer with him upon it.