A BILL [AS AMENDED BY STANDING CO MITTEE B] ΤΟ Transfer the powers of the Secretary for Scotland A.D. 1926. to one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and to increase the number of Secretaries of State and Under Secretaries of State capable of sitting and voting in the Commons House of Parliament, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. BE E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, 5 as follows: for Scotland 1.-(1) On the first appointment after the passing Transfer of of this Act of an additional Principal Secretary of State powers and (if His Majesty is pleased to make such an appoint- duties from ment), all the powers and duties of the Secretary for Secretary 10 Scotland shall, by virtue of this Act, become powers to Secretary and duties of a Principal Secretary of State, and the of State. office of Secretary for Scotland and the office of Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health for Scotland shall be abolished. 15 (2) On the appointment of such an additional Secretary of State as aforesaid, all property which at the time of the appointment is vested in the Secretary for Scotland as such shall, by virtue of this Act, be transferred to and become vested in that additional Secretary 20 of State. A.D. 1926 Transitory provisions. Increase of number of Secretaries (3) For the purpose of the construction of any Act of Parliament, judgment, decree, order, award, warrant, deed, contract, regulation, byelaw, or other document passed or made before the time at which the transfer under this Act of the powers and duties of and of 5 property vested in the Secretary for Scotland to a Principal Secretary of State takes effect, references therein to the Secretary for Scotland and to the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health for Scotland shall, as from the time of the said transfer, have effect as if 10 they were respectively references to one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State and to an Under Secretary to that Principal Secretary of State. 2.-(1) Where anything in relation to the property, powers or duties transferred by this Act was commenced 15 by or under the authority of the Secretary for Scotland before the time of the transfer aforesaid, that thing may be carried on and completed by or under the authority of a Secretary of State. (2) Where at the time of the transfer aforesaid any 20 legal proceeding is pending to which the Secretary for Scotland is a party and that proceeding has reference to any property, powers, or duties transferred by this Act, a Secretary of State shall be substituted in that proceeding for the Secretary for Scotland, and that proceeding shall 25 not abate by reason of the substitution. (3) All permanent secretaries, inspectors, clerks, or other officers employed under the Secretary for Scotland at the time of the transfer aforesaid shall hold their offices and places under the Secretary of State, 30 and shall do so upon the same terms and conditions, and shall have the same powers, privileges, and immunities with respect to the performance of their duties, as if this Act had not passed. 3. The number of Principal Secretaries of State 35 and of Under Secretaries of State capable of sitting of State and and voting in the Commons House of Parliament shall Under Secre- be increased to six, and accordingly section four of taries in the the Government of India Act, 1858, and section one of the House of Commons (Vacation of Seats) Act, 1864, as 40 amended by section eleven of the Air Force (Constitution) Act, 1917, shall have effect as if the word "six were substituted for the word "five" wherever that word occurs in those sections as so amended. House of Commons. 21 & 22 Vict. 27 & 28 Viet. c. 106. c. 34. 7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. 51. 4. (1) This Act may be cited as the Secretaries A.D. 1926. of State Act, 1926. Short title (2) The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to and repeal. this Act shall, to the extent specified in the third column 5 of that Schedule, be repealed as from the time of the transfer aforesaid. 15 9 & 10 Geo. 5. The Scottish Board of In subsection (1) of secc. 20. 20 Health Act, 1919. tion three the words BILL [AS AMENDED BY STANDING To transfer the powers of the Secretary for Presented by The Prime Minister, Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 10 June 1926. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; or 120, George Street, Edinburgh; Teaching to Children Bill. MEMORANDUM. The object of this Bill is to prevent the perversion of the minds of children under sixteen years of age by seditious and blasphemous teaching or literature. The Bill does not in any way deal with propaganda amongst adults. The definition of "seditious matter " embodied in the Bill expresses the common law of England as laid down in numerous decided cases and summarised in Lord Halsbury's Law of England, vol. 9, p. 463, and in Stephen's Digest of the Criminal Law, 6th ed., pp. 70, 71. The definition of "blasphemous matter" embodied in the Bill is in accordance with the law as laid down by the House of Lords in the case of Bowman v. Secular Society, Limited, 1917, A.C. 406. No new offence is created by the Bill. The change made is one of procedure only. |