HC Deb 24 November 1909 vol 13 cc233-7

(1) If any person interested in the estate or untenanted land objects to the acquisition of the same under this Part of this Act on the ground—

  1. (a) that other land sufficient and equally I suitable for the purposes for which 234 the estate or untenanted land is proposed to be acquired is available for purchase by the Commissioners or Board, as the case may be, by voluntary agreement at a reasonable price; or
  2. (b) that the estate or untenanted land consists of or includes land in the occupation of the owner which is, or forms part of, a park, garden, pleasure ground, recreation ground, demesne, or home farm, or was purchased under the provisions of the Irish Church Act, 1869, for a sum not exceeding two thousand pounds; or
  3. (c) that the estate or untenanted land consists of or includes land which has been purchased under the Land Purchase Acts, or is the property of a local authority, or is held by any corporation or company for the purposes of a 235 railway, dock, canal, water, or other public undertaking; or
  4. (d) that if the estate or untenanted land is acquired as proposed other land of the owner adjoining the estate or untenanted land will be injuriously affected or the amenity of the owner's residence will be impaired:
he may, within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, apply to the court for an order restraining the Estates Commissioners from acquiring the estate or untenanted land, or any specified part or parts of the same under this Part of this Act.

(2) The court, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, shall be a court constituted of the Judicial Commissioners and two Judges of the King's Bench Division of the High Court to be selected from a rota formed for the purpose.

(3) The court shall hear and determine all applications coming before it under this Section, and may, if the justice of the case so requires, amend the final offer by excluding therefrom any part or parts of the lands therein described, or (with the consent of the owner and the body by whom the final offer was sent) by including therein any other lands of the owner.

(4) Where a final offer is amended by the court under this Section, the body by whom the offer was sent may make such consequential Amendments in the offer as appear to them to be necessary, and the offer as amended in pursuance of this Section shall be deemed to be the final offer for the purpose of any subsequent proceedings under this Part of this Act.

(5) The court with respect to any applications coming before it under this Part of this Act and to all questions arising thereon shall have and may exercise all the powers, rights, and privileges of the Chancery Division of the High Court, and the decision of the court on any question other than one of law shall be final.

(6) There shall be an appeal to the Court of Appeal from any decision of the Court under this Section on any question of law, and the decision of the Court of Appeal on such question shall be final.

(7) An order of the court or the Court of Appeal restraining the Estate Commissioners from acquiring land under this Part of this Act shall remain in force for five years after it is made.

(8) Rules of the Supreme Court shall provide for the forming of a rota for the purposes of this Part of this Act, and for the procedure to be adopted on the hear- ing by the court, and the Court of Appeal of applications and appeals under this Section.

(9) The expression "owner" in this Section means any person having power under the Land Purchase Acts to sell the estate or untenanted land.

Mr. CHERRY

I move to amend the new Clause by omitting from paragraph (d) the words, "or the amenity of the owner's residence will be impaired." These last words are very vague, and so far as there is any substance in them they are not necessary.

Mr. MOORE

I hope the right hon. and learned Gentleman will not insist on this Amendment. These words are in the Labourers Act, and, I believe, in the Evicted Tenants Act, so that land may not be acquired for the purposes of those enactments in positions which would affect the amenities of owners' private residences—for instance, a piece of land opposite a man's lodge gate. I do not suppose the right hon. and learned Gentleman would wish anything like that to be done, yet the present action of the Government almost offers an inducement to follow a course contrary to the spirit of the Acts which I have named.

Question, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Clause," put, and negatived.

Drafting and consequential Amendments made.

Mr. CHERRY

moved, in Sub-section (3), to leave out the words "The Court shall hear and determine all applications coming before it under this Section," and to insert instead thereof the words "The Judicial Commissioner shall hear in the prescribed manner and determine all applications coming before him under this Part of this Act, and for that purpose shall have, and may exercise, the powers conferred on the Land Commissioners by Sub-sections (1), (3) and (4) of Section 48 of the Act of 1881."

Mr. MOORE

This is an Amendment which is not on the Paper, and we have not had time to consider it. I do not propose to put the House to the trouble of a Division, but it will be understood that we are in no sense agreeing, though these Amendments are consequential.

Question, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Clause," put, and negatived.

Words proposed there inserted.

Mr. CHERRY

moved, in Sub-section (6), to leave out the words "on any question of law."

The effect of this Amendment will be to allow of a very much wider appeal to the Judicial Commissioner than the House of Lords gave, and it will be not merely on questions of law, but on questions of fact, and of mixed questions of law and fact. [An Hon. Member: "And not of value?"] No; not of value.

Question, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Clause," put and negatived.

Further Amendment made: In same Subsection to leave out the words "on such question."