I move amendment No. 1:—
In sub-section (1), paragraph (a), line 28, to delete "1950" and substitute "1949".
The object of the amendment is to provide that the local elections will be held next year instead of in 1950, as contemplated in the Bill. I think everybody is agreed on the importance of local authorities and how necessary it is to have an election as soon as possible after the normal term of office of a local authority expires. The postponement of the elections until 1950 would mean that the present local authorities would be too long in office and that the people who elected them would not have the opportunity they should have to replace unsatisfactory councillors by satisfactory representatives. There has been a change in this country during the last few years, a gradual change, slow and sure, but that change is accelerating and it is desirable that the people should have an opportunity next year to elect councillors to represent them on the local authorities. On the Second Stage I said that an infusion of new blood was absolutely necessary in local councils and I understood from the Minister that he was not tied, as a matter of principle, to 1950 and that the only reason 1950 was put into the Bill was because it was the year that was inserted in the Local Government Bill that has been discharged by this House.
There is another reason, and I submit, with respect, a substantial reason, why these local elections should be held as soon as possible. The Minister and the Government have indicated that they propose to amend the statutes dealing with county management. We all know that since the County Management Act was put into operation many persons who would be desirable and suitable local representatives felt no desire to go forward for election because they would have no power, and the result is that the local councils now in existence are not the best that could be there, for that particular reason. If the Minister and the Government intend to honour their promises, as I am sure they do, to make substantial modifications and amendments in the County Management Act, it is a certainty that people who would not otherwise go forward for election will be glad to come forward, seeing that the responsibility, power and authority that should be theirs will be theirs under the new scheme of local government. I do not think there is anything else I could usefully say on this amendment. I submit to the House that it is desirable that these local elections should be held as soon as possible, that they could very easily be held in 1949, and that to postpone them until 1950 is to deprive people throughout the country of their rights to have representatives in whom they can have the greatest trust. I, therefore, have pleasure in moving the amendment.