§ Bill, as amended, considered.
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR) moved the folio-wing new clause to be inserted in place of Clause 12:—
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(Separate valuations to be made by Assessor of Railways and Canals in Police Burghs.)
The Assessor of Railways and Canals shall value the lands and heritages belonging to Railway and Canal Companies, and to Water Companies, Gas Companies, and other Companies within Burghs having Commissioners of Police under any General or Local Police Act, in the same manner, and subject to the same conditions, as in Royal and Parliamentary Burghs, and the word 'burgh,' wherever it occurs in sections twenty to twenty-nine inclusive of the Act passed in the Session of the seventeenth and eighteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter ninety-one, intituled "An Act for the Valuation of Lands and Heritages in Scotland,' shall include any burgh having Commissioners of Police as aforesaid.
And section five of 'The Valuation of Lands (Scotland) Amendment Act, 1867,' is hereby repealed."—{The Lord Advocate.)
§ Clause brought up, and read the first time.
§ Motion made, and Question, "That the Clause be now read a second time," put, and agreed to.
§ Clause read a second time accordingly, and added to the Bill.
§ Clause 3 (Power of Her Majesty in Council to prescribe forms. Publication, Variation, and effect of Order. Form of valuation roll).
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On the Motion of The LORD ADVOCATE, the following Amendments made:—In page 1, line 23, leave out "sections," and insert "section;" leave out "four and;" in line 24, after "1861," insert "is hereby repealed, and section four of the said Act;" and in line 26, leave out from "repealed," to end of section, and insert—
In so far as those sections provide that the name of the person to whom the amount of few duty, ground, annual, or other yearly consideration payable as a condition of his right by any proprietor, is to be entered in the valuation roll.
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On the Motion of The LORD ADVOCATE, the following Amendment made:—At the end of the Clause add—
Provided, That the second column of the Valuation Roll, headed 'Description and situation of subject,' may be printed for any county without sub-division if the Commissioners of Supply of such county shall so determine.
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 5 (Special provision as to voters in 1885).
§ On the Motion of The LORD ADVOCATE, the following Amendment made:—In page 2, line 22, after "occupier," insert "tenant."
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 8 (Register in Parliamentary burghs merged in counties).
§ On the Motion of The Lord ADVOCATE, the following Amendment made:—In page 2, line 36, leave out "as heretofore except," and insert "separately but."
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to.
§ On the Motion of The LORD ADVOCATE, Clause 12 struck out of the Bill.
§ Clause 16 (Remuneration of collectors of poor rates).
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR) moved, as an Amendment, the omission, in page 4, line 19, of the word "thousand," and the insertion of the word "hundred," instead thereof.
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)said, that under the various Acts the collectors of the poor rate were obliged to make certain returns; and as this was not a part of the regular duties of their office they were paid for it. The practice had been to pay the collectors for the making out of those returns at the rate of 6s. per 100. The work involved filling in three separate columns and a good deal of labour; and he certainly thought, from the examples which had been furnished to him, that the payment proposed was a very moderate one.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 18 (Double entries of voters).
§ On the Motion of The LORD ADVOCATE, the following Amendments made:—In 1969 page 4, line 37, after "same," insert "Parliamentary;" leave out line 38; in line 39, leave out "county or;" in same line, leave out from "burgh," to the second "the," in line 40; in page 5, line 12, after "one," insert "only;" in line 13, after "proprietor," leave out "and un objected to;" in line 15, leave out "none of the entries is," and insert "all or none of the entries are;" in line 17, leave out "and un objected to;" and in line 27, after "and," insert "both in counties and in burghs."
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR) moved, as an Amendment, to add at the end of clause, in page 5, certain new paragraphs, which, he said, required a few words of explanation. Hon. Members would have observed that there were many cases in which the first option was given under the Bill to the voter to make his selection; and if the voter failed to make a selection of the place he wished to vote in respect of, in the case of a double entry, there were directions given to the Sheriff, acting as Revising Barrister, as to which place he should retain and which he should strike out. It might happen that from error or other cause the Sheriff might fail to strike out the second entry, and the paragraph he now proposed to add to the clause was to provide for what should be done in that case.
§ MR. TOMLINSONsaid, he wished to point out that the clause was a Definition Clause, and to remind the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Lord Advocate that during a discussion on the English Registration Bill as to whether a definition should be entertained, it was understood that the hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General would take into consideration the question whether all the definitions could not be brought into one clause, or one particular place in the Bill. In this case, they had a definition something-like one that was given in the English Bill; and he should be glad if the right hon. and learned Lord Advocate would state whether any conclusion had been come to on the matter.
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR), in reply, said, it was proposed to insert the definition he had moved at the end of the present clause, because it would come in more conveniently there.
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Amendment proposed,
In page 5, at end, add as new paragraphs:—"(4.) Where a borough is divided into divisions and, notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the name of a person is entered in the register of Parliamentary Voters of more than one division of the said burgh, and one of these entries is his place of residence, he shall be entitled to vote only in that division in which he is registered as a voter in respect of his place of residence, and shall not vote in respect of any other entry;
(5.) In this section the expression 'Parliamentary county' means a county returning or contributing to return a Member or Members to serve in Parliament; and, where a county is divided for the purpose of such return, means a division of such county."—(The Lord Advocate.)
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause, as amended, agreed to.