I move amendment No. 1:—
1. In page 3 to insert before Section 5 (2) a new sub-section as follows:—
(2) For the purpose of this section premises shall be deemed to be unsuitable for use for a maternity home if they are—
(a) used immediately before the date of the application for registration for the treatment of contagious or notifiable diseases;
(b) in an insanitary condition;
(c) situated in an area which in the opinion of the authorised officer renders them unsuitable for use for a maternity home.
Section 5 provides for the circumstances under which registration of a maternity home may be refused. One of the reasons for refusing it is if the applicant is not a fit and proper person to carry on the home, or that the premises where the applicant proposes to carry on the home, and in respect of which registration is sought, are unsuitable for use as a maternity home. The other is an administrative reason for refusing registration. The object of the amendment is to endeavour to extend and define more clearly the grounds upon which registration may be refused. It is sought in the amendment to ensure that if the premises have been previously used for the treatment of contagious or notifiable diseases they should not be registered as a maternity home. The object of that is to prevent institutions of one kind or another, which have been used for entirely different purposes, being converted into a maternity home. The section as drawn provides that registration may be refused if the premises are unsuitable. The term "unsuitable" seems to be a rather loose one, and while it may be comprehensive because of its looseness, when the Act is in operation it may not be possible under the term "unsuitable" to bring within its scope an insanitary house. The suitability might be held to apply more to the structure than to the sanitary condition of the building. The object of the amendment is to endeavour to ensure that when construing "unsuitable" it shall be deemed to mean an insanitary house and that an insanitary house will be automatically deemed to be an unsuitable house for the purposes of the Act.
Section (c) of the amendment is another endeavour to extend the reasons for which registration may be refused. Under the section as it is in the Bill, it is possible to refuse registration because the premises are unsuitable. You may have the case of premises very suitable from the point of view of structure, of sanitation and of accommodation, but situated in an entirely unsuitable area. It might be possible under the section as drawn for a person to seek permission to register a maternity home which would be flanked on one side, let us say, by a disreputable licensed premises; on the other side, by a well-populated betting shop, and having at the back, say, a permanent fancy fair. If an application were made to register a maternity home of that kind it does not seem to me that it will be possible to refuse registration, because once it was held that the premises were suitable I think anybody construing the section would be bound to consider the premises as distinct from the neighbourhood. The object of the amendment is to endeavour to make it possible to refuse registration where it is sought to register a maternity home in an area which is considered to be unsuitable for the purpose of establishing a maternity home.