In the House of Lords on Tuesday the Lord Chancellor
brought forward a simplified version of the Prevention of Corruption Bill, originally introduced by Lord Russell of Killowen and more recently by Lord Alverstone. The measure, as originally drafted, was, in his opinion, unworkable from its complexity. He had now, with the approval of the Lord Chief Justice, substituted for the confused first section the following :— " (1) If any person — (a) being an agent, corruptly and without the knowledge of his principal, accepts or obtains, or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain, from any person, for himself or for any other person, any gift or consideration as an inducement or reward for doing or forbearing to do any act in relation to his principal's business, or for showing or forbearing to show favour or disfavour to any person in rela- tion to his principal's business ; or (b) corruptly gives or offers any such gift or consideration to any agent, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour. (2) For the purposes of this sec- tion the expression 'consideration' includes valuable con- sideration of any kind ; the expression ' agent ' includes any person employed by or acting for another; and the expression 'principal' includes an employer." In its altered form the Bill guarded against the possibility of action being taken for the giving of trifling and innocent gifts—such as " tips " to railway porters—as well as against the creation of new fields of activity for blackmailers, it being enacted that no proceed- ings could be taken without the consent of the Attorney. General or Solicitor-General. After Lord Alverstone had explained the motives which induced him to assent to the substitution of the smaller and more workable measure, the Bill was read a first time.
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