I move:—
That the Alliance and Dublin Consumers' Gas Company (General Meetings) Order, 1950, proposed to be made by the Minister for Industry and Commerce and laid in draft before Dáil Éireann on the 30th day of May, 1950, under sub-section (4) of Section 10 of the Gas Regulation Act, 1920, be approved.
The Alliance and Dublin Consumers' Gas Company are subject to a peculiar disability in regard to the holding of general meetings and preparation of accounts. Unlike other commercial concerns, the company are obliged, by the Alliance and Dublin Gas Act, 1866, to prepare accounts on a half-yearly basis, and to hold general meetings twice a year, and they have asked that an Order should be made under the Gas Regulation Act, 1920, relieving them of this obligation. I am satisfied that the procedure laid down in the Act of 1866, which serves no useful purpose, is outmoded, and that there is no reason for continuing to impose on the company an obligation which does not apply to other commercial undertakings, and which involves the company in an annual expenditure of the order of £3,000.
Under existing procedure, it is necessary for the company to hold a general meeting to approve of the payment of half-yearly dividends but, under the draft Order now before the House, the company will be able to follow the normal practice of commercial concerns and declare interim dividends, subject to ratification at the annual general meeting.
The Gas Regulation Act of 1920 altered the method whereby statutory gas undertakings were obliged to secure their powers by way of private Act or provisional Order, and provided instead that powers could be secured by a special Order approved by a Resolution of both Houses. The procedure, as now laid down, requires that the draft Order be prepared by the gas undertaking, and that full publicity of the intention to apply for the Order and of the content of the draft be given by notice in Iris Oifigiúil and local newspapers. Notification must also be given to the State and to private interests involved. One month is given for the lodging of objections, the subsequent stages being dealt with in accordance with the Gas Regulation Act, 1920. No objections were lodged in this case. I, therefore, submit the draft for approval of the Dáil. Approval of the Seanad has already been obtained.
Question agreed to.