Orders of the Day — Harbours Bill – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 16 Mawrth 1964.
Vice-Admiral John Hughes-Hallett
, Croydon North East
I beg to move, in page 41, line 43, to leave out "a harbour operation" and to insert:
harbour opt rations of a particular description".
Although this Amendment, and other Amendments, are of a drafting nature, I should explain them, as they are not quite straightforward. They seek to improve the wording of Clause 37(1)(b) so as to clarify the type of information the Council may demand from people engaged in harbour operations. As the subsection is at present worded, it might be argued that a person could only be required to supply information about the operations he was engaged on at the time when he received notice in writing from the Council. The new wording would make it quite clear that the Council could demand information about other harbour operations which that person was in the habit of carrying on at other times.
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.
