Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.
Mr Austin Hopkinson
, Mossley
Would not the Amendment suggested by the Parliamentary Secretary conflict with the first part of Sub-section (2)? That really is the part of the Sub-section to which the chief objection has been raised, and it specifically states that the loss is to be made out on that particular year. What it comes to is this: Supposing the generating station people have made a loss on generation. The first part of the Clause says that it shall, unless provided for out of a reserve fund, be apportioned amongst the authorised undertakers within the district of the joint electricity authority who take a supply of electricity from the joint electricity authority in proportion to the number of units supplied to them in that year. Surely the intention of that part of the Clause is that the undertaking authorities shall pay up out of their revenue for that particular year, and that that year stands by itself. The first part of the. Clause surely refers to a loss made and that has to be liquidated at the end of the year, whereas the second part refers to a provision for carrying forward the loss to future years. I submit that the two portions of that Clause are different, and if the hon. Gentleman's Amendment were put in I think he would find, whatever wording was adopted, that it was in conflict with the spirit of the first part of the Section.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.