proved to resigister erroneously, such erroneous registration shall be deemed to have first arisen during the then last preceding quarter of the year, unless it be proved to have arisen during the then current quarter.

(2) The amount of the allowance to be paid to or the surcharge to be made upon the consumer by the authorised undertakers shall be paid by or to the undertakers to or by the consumer (as the case may be) and shall be recoverable in the like manner as charges for electricity are recoverable by the undertakers "-(Sir Douglas Newton).

Motion made, and Question put, "That the Clause be read a second time."-The Committee divided:

Thursday, 15th July, 1926.

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sir ROBERT SANDERS in the Chair.

ELECTRICITY (SUPPLY) BILL.

Another New Clause ("Power to lay electric lines, &c., in private streets") brought up, and read the first time as follows:

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Any authorised undertakers may upon the application of the owner or occupier of any premises in their area of supply abutting on or in process of erection in any street laid out or made, and whether dedicated to public use or not, supply such premises with electricity, and may lay down, take up, alter, relay, or renew in, across, or along such street such electric lines and apparatus as may be requisite or proper for furnishing such supply, and the provisions of the Electricity (Supply) Acts, 1882 to 1922, and of this Act and of any order made thereunder, so far as they are applicable for the purposes of this section shall extend and apply to and for the purposes hereof, and to any works constructed or executed by the undertakers under the powers of this section "-(Sir Douglas Newton).

Motion made, and Question put, "That the Clause be read a second time."-The Committee divided:

Another New Clause ("Use for lighting purposes of electricity supplied for power ") brought up, and read the first time as follows:-

"(1) No consumer shall, without the consent in writing of the undertakers by whom electricity is supplied to him, use or suffer to be used (whether after transformation or conversion or not) for purposes of lighting or illuminating or for any process, operation or purpose involving or requiring the use of light (all of which purposes are in this section referred to as 'lighting purposes') the whole or any part of any electricity supplied to him for any other purpose.

(2) Any consumer who without such consent shall use or suffer to be used for lighting purposes electricity supplied to him through a meter fixed for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the supply to him of electricity agreed to be supplied to him for any purpose other than lighting purposes shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding five pounds and to a daily penalty of forty shillings, and shall in addition be liable to pay to the undertakers at such higher rate as they may be for the time being charging for the supply of electricity for the purpose for which the electricity is used by the consumer for all or any portion of the electricity which has been supplied to him for any other purpose within one year previous to the date when the undertakers shall sue for any penalty as aforesaid.

(3) Any court having jurisdiction to impose such penalty may, and on the application of the undertakers shall, decide as to the portion (if any) of such electricity in respect of which the higher charge as aforesaid shall be payable.

(4) The provisions of section eighteen of The Electric Lighting Act, 1909, shall apply to any persons whom the undertakers have reasonable grounds for believing to be acting contrary to the provisions of this section "-(Sir Douglas Newton).

Motion made, and Question, "That the Clause be read a second time,"-put, and negatived.

Another New Clause ("Special provisions as to power

companies") brought up, and read the first time as follows:

(1) Where a scheme under section four of this Act relates to an area which comprises the whole or part of the area of supply of a power company, the power company may, by notice in writing to the Board given within one year from the date of publication of the scheme as adopted by the Board, or if a complaint against the scheme shall have been made by the power company and referred to arbitration in pursuance of the provisions of the said section four one year from the date of the determination of the complaint, require the Board to purchase, and if such notice be given the Board shall purchase the whole of the undertaking of the power company upon the terms of paying to the power company such sum as would be the fair market value of the undertaking as a going concern at the date of the notice if no such scheme had been made, that value to be determined in default of agreement by arbitration in accordance with The Arbitration Act, 1889, together with (if the arbitrator thinks fit) such sum as the arbitrator determines to be the costs properly incurred by the company in or as incidental to the arbitration and the transfer of the undertaking.

For the purposes of this sub-section the undertaking of a power company shall be deemed to include the undertaking of any subsidiary company which is operated in connection with the undertaking of the power company.

(2) After the undertaking of any power company incorporated by Act of Parliament is acquired by the Board under this section, section twenty-seven (Winding up of companies) of The Electricity (Supply) Act, 1922, shall apply as if the undertaking had been transferred to a joint electricity authority under The Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919-(Colonel Sir Joseph Nall).

Motion made, and Question, "That the Clause be read a second time,"-put, and negatived.

Another New Clause ("Amendment of s. 23 of Act of 1909") brought up, and read the first time as follows: