HL Deb 28 July 1937 vol 106 cc1053-6

Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.

THE EARL OF FEVERSHAM

My Lords, I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time.

Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a.—(The Earl of Feversham.)

On Question, Bill read 3a, with the Amendments.

Clause II:

Persons to and by whom payments, elections and applications may be made.

(2) Where—

  1. (a) in any year there occurs, at any time before the fourth day of June, a change in the occupation of a farm which, at the time of the change, comprises land under oats or land under barley, and
  2. (b) the outgoing occupier is, by virtue of any custom or agreement, entitled to harvest the oats or barley,
the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act shall, in relation to the said land, have effect as if for any reference in those provisions to the person who, at the beginning of the fourth day of June in that year, was the occupier of the farm, there were substituted a reference to the outgoing occupier.

THE EARL OF FEVERSHAM moved to leave out subsection (2) and insert: (2) Where in any year there has occurred or occurs, at any time before the fourth day of June, a change in the occupation of a farm which, at the time of the change, comprised or comprises land under wheat, land under oats or land under barley, and the outgoing occupier is, by virtue of any custom or agreement, entitled to harvest any of the wheat, oats or barley, the appropriate Minister, upon application made to him by or on behalf of the outgoing occupier, may give directions for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say:—

  1. (a) for determining the person or persons by whom any election for that year which may be made in respect of the farm under Section seven of this Act, or any application under Section nine of this Act for any subsidy payment which may be made for that year in respect of the farm, must be made in order to be effective;
  2. (b) for requiring any such election to be approved by the appropriate Minister in order that it may be effective;
  3. (c) for securing, in a case where the outgoing occupier has the right to harvest the oats or barley or any part thereof, that the outgoing occupier will receive the whole or part of any such subsidy payment according as the appropriate Minister may determine;
and if and so far as, by virtue of any such directions as aforesaid, anything which under Section six, Section seven or Section nine of this Act would otherwise fall to be done to or by the person who at the beginning of the fourth day of June was the occupier of a farm falls to be done to or by some other person, that section shall have effect as if any reference therein to the person who at the beginning of the said day was the occupier of the farm were, or as the case may be, included, a reference to that other person, and subsection (1) of this section shall be construed accordingly.

The noble Earl said: My Lords, on the Report stage, which was taken on Monday last, I said that we were not entirely satisfied, owing to the very limited time that was available, that the Amendment which I moved to insert a new subsection (2) in Clause II covered completely all the points raised by my noble friend Lord Saltoun and other noble Lords from Scotland. We now propose to provide for Scotland by inserting the Amendment that appears last on the Paper in the Scottish Application Clause, and to insert a new subsection in Clause II to cover England and Wales and Northern Ireland. In the North of England it is frequently the custom for the outgoing occupier at Lady Day to remain entitled only to the wheat that he has sown and not to any barley or oats, whether they be sown before or after the change of occupation. This means that some provision must be made to decide, in default of agreement, which of these two persons should make the election as to wheat deficiency payments or ***oats and barley subsidy under Clause 7, and we have come to the conclusion that the best course is to enable the Minister to make the necessary determination. It is not a matter which can very well be settled in connection with the incoming valuation of the farm.

I should add that there is a further class of case which the Amendment also covers, but it is one of probably more limited application. That is where, first, there is no wheat on the farm but the outgoing occupier at Lady Day is entitled to harvest winter-sown oats or barley; and secondly, the incoming occupier may also plant spring oats or barley and would, as the Bill stands at present, be the person who should make application for the subsidy and to whom payment would eventually be made. The Amendment enables the Minister to determine whether the subsidy shall be apportioned or whether, if there is no spring-sown oats or barley, the subsidy in respect of any oats or barley grown on that farm should be paid entirely to the outgoing occupier.

Both this Amendment and the third Amendment on the Order Paper have been designed in the first place to meet the point of the noble Lord, Lord Saltoun, and secondly to meet the point that has arisen out of the Amendment in relation to its application to Northern England. I am glad to know from the noble Marquess, Lord Aberdeen, that the Scottish representatives in your Lordships' House are well satisfied with the wording of these Amendments. I beg to move.

Amendment moved— Page 9, line 34, leave out subsection (2) and insert the said new subsection.—(The Earl of Feversham.)

LORD STONEHAVEN

My Lords, my noble friends who spoke for Scotland are, for various reasons, unable to be present to-day. Lord Saltoun in particular is sitting in Scotland as representative of your Lordships' House on a Scottish Provisional Order. They one and all, however, asked me to express their extreme gratitude for the generous and complete way in which the noble Earl has met their representations.

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 20 [Special payments in connection with the eradication of bovine tuberculosis]:

THE EARL OF FEVERSHAM

This Amendment is a drafting Amendment.

Amendment moved— Page 14, line 20, leave out from ("been") to ("a") in line 21 and insert ("sanctioned by").—(The Earl of Feversham.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 33:

Application to Scotland.

33. In the application of this Act to Scotland—

THE EARL of FEVERSHAM moved to add to the clause: (d) subsection (2) of Section eleven of this Act shall not apply, and in lieu thereof the following provision shall have effect:— (2) Where in any year there has occurred or occurs, at any time before the fourth day of June, a change in the occupation of a farm which, at the time of the change, comprised or comprises land under oats or land under barley, and the outgoing occupier is, by virtue of any custom or agreement, entitled to harvest the oats or barley, or to receive payment therefor, the provisions of Part II of this Act shall, in relation to the said farm, have effect as if for any reference to the person who at the beginning of the fourth day of June in the said year was the occupier of the farm, there were substituted a reference to the outgoing occupier.

The noble Earl said: My Lords, this is the Amendment to which I have referred, and I beg to move.

Amendment moved— Page 23, line 30, at end, insert the said words.—(The Earl of Feversham.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to

Bill passed, and returned to the Commons.