I beg to move, in Sub-section (1), to leave out the words have effect as if for the words 'under this Act' there were substituted the 'words under or in consequence of this Act,' and as if for the words 'in consequence of this Act' there were substituted the words in consequence of any such transfer scheme, agreement or arrangement,' and to insert instead thereof the words: be read and have effect as though the words 'or any other Act or Order confirmed by or having the force of an Act of Parliament' had been inserted therein after the words 'this Act' wherever they occur in the said Section, and as if the words Electricity Commissioners' had been inserted therein in lieu of the words 'Minister of Labour.' This Amendment is brought forward at the request of the electrical engineers employed by the municipal authorities and big electrical companies, and their association, to meet what they represent as a very real grievance. They are afraid that under the Bill, as at present drawn, on the question of compensating them for loss of employment under the Bill in cases where they would not otherwise have lost employment, the provision is weak, and the words I propose to put in would strengthen that. Secondly, they object to the Minister of Labour having the power to set up the referees to decide whether they are entitled to such compensation. They point out that the Ministry of Labour has not the technical staff to deal with a great number of men, and there may be a great many cases waiting to be dealt with. Consequently, they prefer that it shall be the Electricity Commissioners, as in the previous Act. We have heard a good deal about the necessity of compensating capital for any losses it may incur under this Act, and we have heard a great deal about men and corporations who have put their money into electrical undertakings, and that they have great rights of compensation. I am not arguing that now. This Amendment is trying to make some further provision for compensation for men who have put the capital of their whole professional lives into the posts they have gained under, the different electrical authorities. They are men who have given very devoted service in the past for not very high pay, and the positions they have built for themselves represent their whole capital. They want to be certain of fair and swift compensation if they are displaced for no fault of their own under the provisions of this Act.

When this Clause was brought forward in Committee, the hon. Member in charge of the Bill dealt with it rather lightly. I was not present, but I read the Debate. He talked about these electrical officers being like Oliver Twist, always asking for more, never satisfied, and so on and so on. If he were in the position of a man who has got to a certain age when it was not easy to find fresh employment—especially in these days, with the blessings of the Government to which the Parliamentary Secretary belongs, it is not easy for anyone to find fresh employment —and finds through no fault of his own, and owing to the reorganisation of the electrical undertakings in which he works that he is deprived of his post, I do not think he would use that argument. That man is thinking of his future and of his family. He wants to be certain that he will he compensated, as I believe the Bill intends to see that he shall be compensated. It is not fair to joke about that and compare him to Oliver Twist. It is true he is only a highly-skiklled employé, it is true he is not a capitalist—to whom the hon. Gentleman is always very tender —except in the sense I have said, but he has certain rights, and the association feel very strongly that those rights should be strengthened rather more than is provided for in the Act. With that object they have requested me to move this Amendment, and I hope the Parliamentary Secretary will see his way to think better of this than he did in Committee, and to accept the quite simple Amendment, which is not an extravagant request, contained in the proposal I am putting before the House.