Those interested in the discussion of the status of the architect will perhaps take note that in the ballot of private members' bills for second reading in the House of Commons Mr. J. A. Lovat Fraser, the National Labour member for Lichfield, was one of the fortunate legislators, His Architects' Registration Bill which has been drafted to restrict the use of the name architect to registered architects and to extend the time within which Practising architects may apply for registration, will accordingly come up for second reading on Dec. 17. Private members' bills do not have a great opportunity of reaching the statute book, unless exceptional lobbying produces Government support, such as that which enabled Mr. A. P. Herbert to score a notable triumph last session. Mr. Lovat Fraser may find his task exceptionally difficult owing to the weight of the Government's own legislative programme. Moreover his is only one of twenty-seven private bills so even if it manages to pass the second reading stage its struggle to proceed further will probably tax all his ingenuity. Among the other private bills mention might be made of a Scottish Labour member's to make provision of an "annual holiday for employed persons", of Dr. Haden Guest's to prohibit night work in bakehouses, Colonel Nathan's to protect animals which "though nominally wild, are in fact, kept in captivity of confinement for the purpose of being hunted or coursed", Mr. M. P. Price's to secure to the public the right of access to mountains and moorlands, Mr. W. R. D. Perkins to empower local authorities to close streets so that they may be used as children's playgrounds, and Major J, Milner's to regulate the use of motor-cars for the conveyance of voters at elections, Sir E. Brocklebank wants to facilitate marriages where "one party resides in Scotland and the other in England" and Sir F. Sanderson to compel the voter to exercise his or her franchise. High hopes generated by the success of these measures in winning a place in the ballot are apt to fade sadly when the strenuous days of the session after the Budget has been presented bring the Government face to face with the realities of an over-crowded programme.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.