THEY'RE OFF!
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By a Solicitor ,
A Quick Survey of die Nationalization Race and an Explanation of the Procedure to be Adopted with the Transport Bill
THE Nationalization Stakes has begun. Transport got away to a flying start, Agriculture and Town Planning lie well together, and Electricity is close behind. Now is the moment for a brief survey of the " course."
Each of these Bills has to go through the same series of stages, first in the Commons then in the Lords. First Reading, Second Reading, Committee, Report, Third Reading. If the Lords amend a Bill as presented to them from the Commons, such amendments have to be approved by the Commons, or if the Commons do not approve them, the Lords have to withdraw. If the two Houses do not agree, there is a constitutional crisis
Retreat Under Fire On the Coal Bill, the Lords adopted a number of amendments which had been strenuously resisted by the Government when the Bill was before the Commons. Faced with the possibility of a crisis, the Government retreated and Mr. Shinwell moved acceptance of a number of points he had previously refused to agree to.
When a Bill has been agreed, it receives the Royal Assent and becomes an Act of Parliament.
The • First Reading is purely formal and is followed by the printing of the Bill. Second Reading is a big debate in the House of Commons itself. On this occasion the House decides whether or not it approves the Bill in principle.
On the Committee Stage,. the Bill is considered clause by clause and amendments may be moved by any member of the Committee. Before 1939 a measure of such importance as the Transport Bill would have been dealt with in "committee of the whole House."
While the whole House is in Committee, naturally no other business is being dealt with, and the Government could not possibly have secured the passage of even one of its major Bills in the time available, let alone four (or more). It is, therefore, using the device of sending all these Bills to Standing Committees.
These Committees consist of 50 members, some permanent, and some added for each particular Bill. The membership is divided proportionately to Party strengths in the House itself, so that the Government will have a majority to ensure passage of the Bill in a form acceptable to itself. The Standing Committee on the Transport Bill is made up of 50 Labour Members, 16 Conservatives and four others.
The Minister of Transport and his Parliamentary Secretary (Mr. G. R. Strauss) are On the Committee, with Mr. GIenvil Hall, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, presumably to help on the compensation clauses. The Opposition is being led by Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, assisted by Mr. Ralph Msheton and Mr. Peter Thorneycroft.'
It may be added now •that the House of Lords does not use Standing Committees, but deals with the Committee Stage of all Bills in committee of the whole House.
A new development seems to be taking place in Parliamentary procedure. At one time the Report Stage was almost formal. On the Coal Bill, there were so many amendments that three whole days were taken up in dealing with them.
The reason was that, frequently in Committee, the Minister accepted the principle of an amendment, but objected to the way it was worded. He therefore undertook to move a suitably worded amendment on the Report Stage, if the Member would withdraw in the Committee. As a result, the Report Stage is now of great importance.
Third Reading is again a general debate, but invariably much shorter than the Second Reading debate.
A good number of amendments to the Transport Bill has been put down. Two are of great importance to the road transport industry.
One proposes to prohibit the Transport Commission from engaging in the carriage of goods by road other than ordinary longdistance carriage, as defined by Clause 40 of the Bill. The effect of this would be to confine the Commission's road-haulage activities to hauls of 40 miles or more, involving a vehicle being more than 25 miles from its operating centre, and so prevent competition with surviving hauliers on shorterdistance work.
It must be borne in mind, however, that the Commission will be taking over all the railways' delivery vehicles, as Well as short-distance vehicles belonging to long-distance hauliers taken over under the Act. It is, therefore, inevitable that the Government will resist this amendment to the utmost.
A second amendment is designed to stop up a possibly vicious gap in the Bill. It provides that the Commission will be able to carry passengers by road only so far as it may be entitled to do so as successor of the railways or under a scheme made under the part of the Bill dealing with passenger road transport.
Such schemes, if not agreed to by all concerned, come up for consideration by a committee of both Houses of Parliament, thus being snbiet to an element of Parlia, rnentary control.
The amendment would prevent the Commission from setting up passenger road services in competition with private owners, except as above, and particularly subsidized services, which would depreciate the private services preparatory to "taking over." There seems to be no good reason why this amendment should not be • accepted.
Another proposal is to increase the number of members of the Commission from five to not fewer . than nine. Yet another would have two members representing Scottish interests. Further amendments would require either that the chairman of the Commission devote the whole of his time to the service of the Commission, or that the chair-man and two other members work exclusively for the Commission.
Whole-time Work
It may be recalled that there is no stipulation in the Bill that any of the five members provided for shall be engaged whole time. It certainly looks as though it will be more than a whole-time job for five, or even nine, men to carry the burden thrust on them by the Bill.
There is an amendment down to prevent the Commission from doing a London Transport," or, in other words, insisting on any person joining a trade union as a condition of employment—unless the consent of the Minister is first obtained. The amendment extends to Executives under the Bill; one of the Executives is to take over London Transport. The Minister will, of course, avoid the amendment somehow.