My Lords, I apologise to the House for not being able to be present at Second Reading. Clearly, the Bill is a most important piece of legislation, as expressed at Second Reading and this afternoon. I am sure that everybody in this House supports the main objectives. I read the report of the Second Reading in Hansard, and I particularly commend the speech of my noble friend Lord Hague, who clearly, when he was Foreign Secretary, contributed significant movement to this attempt to control the undesirable trade in recently slaughtered elephant ivory.
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I would like to speak in support of Amendment 5. What concerns me is that to choose any date is clearly going to be slightly arbitrary. The Government have chosen 1918, but other international agreements refer to 1947. My noble friend Lord De Mauley made a very well-researched speech about the importance of works of art containing ivory produced in the 1920s and 1930s. It seems very strange that trading in these objects should suddenly become illegal, so I hope the Government will think again.
An earlier amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, did not find support from the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, and the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. I was saddened by this, because it seemed that neither of them appeared to appreciate the importance of the beautiful works of art that have over centuries been produced using ivory and many other materials.
I find myself in a difficult position. I do not want to disagree with the Government on a matter like this. I do not think it should in any way be a party political point, but I hope they will think very seriously as to whether they have chosen the right date. It seems there are very strong arguments for a later date. Of course we will not vote on this today, but should a similar amendment be proposed on Report, I would be most inclined to vote for it.