Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.
I hope a few words may induce the House not to press this Amendment. The main structure of Clause 16 is in Sub-section (I), and it is intended to make the undertaking of the joint electricity authority self-supporting. For that purpose the charges are to be fixed with such a margin as the Electricity Commissioners may decide. We cannot, however, exclude from view the possibility that there may be a deficiency, and surely, when dealing with a public authority which has no private funds of its own, we must provide some means of dealing with such a contingency. The question which has been put to me by the hon. Member for Oldham (Sir W. Barton) is, I think, covered by the Proviso to Sub-section (2). It provides:
That in any ease in which it appears to the joint electricity authority that the deficiency in any year can by a reasonable adjustment of charges or otherwise, be made good out of moneys receivable by the joint electricity authority in any succeeding year or years, or that the deficiency is so small as to justify postponement of any apportionment, the joint electricity authority may refrain from making any such apportionment, and such deficiency may be included in the charges payable out of revenue in any succeeding year or years.
That, in substance, meets the argument of my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham. The intention is that there shall be no charge upon the undertakings which themselves constitute, in part, if not in whole, the joint electricity authority, if by a readjustment of charges the deficiency can be met, or if the sum is so small that it is not worth while troubling with it in that year. The House must realise that the contingency—I hope the remote contingency—that there might be some deficiency has to be provided against.