Orders of the Day — ALLOTMENTS BILL [Lords]. – in the House of Commons am ar 28 Gorffennaf 1922.
Mrs Margaret Wintringham
, Louth Borough
I beg to move, to leave out the word "thereof," and to insert instead thereof the words "of such urban district is."
I wish to allow borough councils with a population of less than 10,000 to take advantage of this Clause, and I have an Amendment on the Paper to enable them also to take advantage of Clause 14. There are some councils in the country, very ancient ones, with small populations, and I want them included. There is one particularly that I have in mind which has a great number of allotments and yet does not at present come under the scope of Clauses 13 and 14.
Sir Francis Acland
, Camborne
I beg to second the Amendment.
In Committee upstairs, I will not say an agreement, but a general arrangement was conic to—very much against my will, as a matter of fact—that certain modifications should be made in Clause 14 and that it should be accepted as a reasonable compromise. The boroughs of over 10,000 inhabitants were to have their allotment committees with their co-opted members, but the proportions of those members were to be considerably restricted. If I could be assured that there is not going to be any attempt to weaken Clause 14 on the part of the hon. and gallant Member for Central Wandsworth (Sir J. Norton-Griffiths), I would counsel the hon. Member for Louth (Mrs. Wintringham) not to press her Amendment to put in these small boroughs—that is, as I say, unless there is going to be a serious attempt, in spite of the general understanding come to, to weaken Clause 14 by making it optional.
Sir A. BOSCAWEN:
I do not think I can accept the Amendment, because, whether or not these powers should be exercised, they depend really on population. This is to a large extent an urban Bill, and where you have a very small town which is really rural in character, you do not want to have the same provisions as you would have in an urban council district, which is really of far more urban character, with a large population, than a small borough. Therefore, I think it would be very undesirable to make the distinction as between borough and urban councils; the proper distinction should be a population distinction. There are no fewer than 105 boroughs with under 10,000 inhabitants in this country. On the point raised by the right hon. Member for Camborne (Mr. Acland) I do not know whether or not the hon. and gallant Member for Central Wandsworth is going to move his Amendments to make Clause 14 optional, but, as far as the Government are concerned, we intend to stand by the arrangement made in the Standing Committee.
Sir John Norton-Griffiths
, Wandsworth Central
It is not my intention to move my Amendments, but only to ask the Minister of Agriculture to make a statement, so that we shall be clear as to what was arranged in Committee upstairs. My objection is to having Committees interfering with municipal bodies. This is the thin end of the wedge, and if it be applied generally, we shall have Committees formed, like the Geddes Committee, with the right of coming into this House and telling us what we ought to do, and I think it is a dangerous practice. I should much prefer to see Clause 14 taken out altogether. My own Council of Wandsworth Borough feel very strongly on it, and have asked me to press my Amendments, but I am not doing so, as I have already informed them, because I understand they were met in Committee, and I think it would help matters if the right hon. Gentleman would make a brief statement as to the way in which they were met.
Mrs Margaret Wintringham
, Louth Borough
I ask leave to withdraw my Amendment.
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.
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.
In a normal session there are up to ten standing committees on bills. Each has a chair and from 16 to 50 members. Standing committee members on bills are appointed afresh for each new bill by the Committee of Selection which is required to take account of the composition of the House of Commons (ie. party proportions) as well as the qualification of members to be nominated. The committees are chaired by a member of the Chairmen's Panel (whose members are appointed by the Speaker). In standing committees the Chairman has much the same function as the Speaker in the House of Commons. Like the Speaker, a chairman votes only in the event of a tie, and then usually in accordance with precedent. The committees consider each bill clause by clause and may make amendments. There are no standing committees in the House of Lords.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
