HC Deb 30 April 1900 vol 82 cc386-92

CLASS III.

1. "That a sum, not exceeding £34,694, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Salaries of the Law Officers' Department; the Salaries and Expenses of the Department of the Solicitor for the Affairs of Her Majesty's Treasury, Queen's Proctor, and Director of Public Prosecutions; the Costs of Prosecutions, of other Legal Proceedings, and of Parliamentary Agency."

2 "That a sum, not exceeding £22,689, be granted to Her Majesty to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for certain Miscellaneous Legal Expenses, including Grants in Aid of the Expenses of the Incorporated Law Societies of England and Ireland."

3 "That a sum, not exceeding £185,490, be granted to Her Majesty to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for such of the Salaries and Expenses of the Supreme Court of Judicature as are not charged on the Consolidated Fund."

4 "That a sum, not exceeding £19,246, be granted to Her Majesty to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Land Registry."

MR. BILLSON (Halifax)

asked if the Attorney General could give any information with reference to the progress of the work of the Registry.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER, Isle of Wight)

I am very glad to be able to comply with the request of the hon. Member. The work of the Registry since the registration of titles to land has been made compulsory has been extremely satisfactory. It was thought advisable that the parishes should come in by degrees, and the entire county will not be under the Act until 1st November next. Notwithstanding that, the result is that there were in 1899 2,922 first registrations in London. With reference to the question asked me in Committee by the hon. Member for East Northamptonshire, only eighteen of those were absolute titles, all the rest being possessory titles, which will mature into absolute titles. The transactions after first registration were 1,301, making 4,241 transactions under the new Act, affecting property of the value of £5,520,210. During the first three months and a fraction of the present year there have been 2,G71 first registrations, of which ton wore absolute titles, and 1,470 transactions after registration, or 4,157 as against 4,241 for the whole of last year. It is estimated that when the whole of the county comes under the Act, there will be an average increase of a further 20 per cent. In consequence of the increased work an extra staff is required, and I am sure the House will be of opinion that, considering the short time the compulsory Act is in operation, the result is satisfactory.

MR. BIERELL (Fifeshire, W.)

No one rejoices more than I do at the satisfactory character of the statement of the Attorney General. The point, however, to which I desire to direct attention is the artistic appearance of the certificate received on registering property with a possessory title. It is of a most disagreeable character. It contains the names and alleged arms of five Lord Chancellors—the present Lord Chancellor, Lord Selborne, Lord Cairns, Lord Hatherley, Lord Herschell. Instead of the old document, to which lawyers attach so much importance, property owners will have to keep an inartistic document of this sort, containing the names of irrelevant and extraneous gentlemen who really have nothing to do with the subject matter, and that is to be substituted for the old pigskins to which we were wont to attach so much importance.

SIR RICHARD WEBSTER

I was not aware of the matter mentioned by the hon. and learned Gentleman, but I will make enquiries.

5. "That a sum, not exceeding £19,925, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Salaries and Expenses connected with the County Courts."

6. "That a sum, not exceeding £31,778, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge; which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Salaries of the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police, and of the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District, the Pay and Expenses of Officers of Metropolitan Police employed on special duties, and the Salaries and Expenses of the Inspectors of Constabulary."

7 "That a sum, not exceeding £358,964, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Expenses of the Prisons in England, Wales, and the Colonies."

8 "That a sum, not exceeding £121,623, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Expense of the Maintenance of Juvenile Offenders in Reformatory, Industrial, and Day Industrial Schools in Great Britain, and of the Inspectors of Reformatories."

9 "That a sum, not exceeding £23,946, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Maintenance of Criminal Lunatics in the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum."

CLASS I.

10. "That a sum, not exceeding £18,000, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for Expenditure in respect of Diplomatic and Consular Buildings, and for the maintenance of certain Cemeteries Abroad."

11. "That a sum, not exceeding £176,000, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Customs, Inland Revenue, Post Office, and Post Office Telegraph Buildings in Great Britain, and certain Post Offices abroad, including Furniture, Fuel, and sundry Miscellaneous Services."

MR. BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.)

I desire to make an appeal to the First Commissioner of Works and to the representative of the Post Office with regard to the slow progress made in the building of the new post office at Aberdeen. It was decided four or five years ago to have a new post office, and yet only a sum of £2,000 is included for the building in this year's Estimates, which, it is quite obvious, will not nearly complete the structure. The new post office is greatly called for. The postal work is constantly increasing, and the present building is utterly inadequate, and it is practically impossible for the postal officials to discharge their duties properly. I do not like to make a charge against the Office of Works, because where three Departments are concerned delay is necessarily involved, but at the same time I think the delay is greater than it ought to be, and I appeal to the Secretary to the Treasury as to whether he cannot see his way to accelerate the proceedings by bringing in a, Supplementary Estimate which would enable the building to be proceeded with.

THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF, WORKS (Mr. AKERS DOUGLAS, Kent, St. Augustine's)

I regret that the progress of the building has been somewhat slow. There has been some considerable difficulty with regard to the plans. The original plans were certainly not of the character they ought to have been, and larger and better plans have now been prepared, and the work will be proceeded with. I will give the right hon. Gentleman an assurance that no unnecessary delay will occur. Of course this particular year has not been a very good one in which to take large sums of money for public buildings. More important matters demand the finances of the country, and therefore all my Estimates have been framed lower than usual. I am afraid I can hold out no hope that a Supple- mentary Estimate will be introduced this year. Indeed it will not be necessary, because during the present year it will not be possible to spend very much more than £2,000 in the preparation of the site. A much larger sum will be taken next year, and no unnecessary delay shall take place.

12 "That a sum, not exceeding £188,000, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, in respect of sundry Public Buildings in Great Britain, not provided for on other Votes."

13 "That a sum, not exceeding £127,609, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for the Survey of the United Kingdom, and for minor services connected therewith."

14 "That a sum, not exceeding £2,243, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1901, for maintaining certain Harbours under the Board of Trade."

* MR. ELLIS GRIFFITH (Anglesey)

asked what progress had been made in the work at Holyhead which had been going on for some years, and whether Holyhead had been made a port.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. RITCHIE, Croydon)

I am not aware of any works which have been going on for some years past. One or two rocks have been blown away, and the general passage into the inner harbour has been made more accessible. With regard to the removal of certain rocks which divide the harbour into two portions, I have made investigations, and I find that the cost would be something like £70,000 or £80,000, an expenditure which would be scarcely justifiable for the purpose. There is one thing which I regret we have not been able to deal with, and that is the question of the wooden jetty. A large sum has to be spent annually to keep it up, and I think the time has come when it ought to be removed and a more permanent jetty substituted. I have been negotiating with the London and North Western Railway with regard to the inner harbour, of which they practically have the entire use, but these negotiations have not yet terminated. With regard to making Holyhead a port, that is under consideration, and though I do not like to give a positive assurance, I may say I am endeavouring to look at the matter from the hon. Gentleman's point of view.