HC Deb 18 July 1919 vol 118 cc845-7

(4) Where an owner or other person has failed to execute any work which he has been required to execute under the by-laws the local authority by whom such by-laws are enforced may, after giving to him not less than twenty-one days' notice in writing, themselves execute the works and recover the costs and expenses incurred by them in so doing from the owner or other person as a civil debt in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, or if they think fit, the local authority may, by order, declare any such expenses to be payable by annual instalments within a period not exceeding that of the interest of the owner or other person in the premises, nor in any case five years, with interest at a rate not exceeding five per centum per annum, until the whole amount is paid, and any such instalment or interest or any part thereof may be recovered from the owner or other person as a, civil debt in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.

Mr. HENRY

I beg to move, at the end of Sub-section (4), to add the words, Any notice required to be given to an owner or other person under this Sub-section may be served in the like manner as a notice required to be served on an owner under Part II. of the Act of 1890, and Section forty-nine of that Act shall apply accordingly as if for the reference to Part II. of that Act there were substituted a reference to this Sub-section and as if any reference to an owner of a dwelling-house included a reference to such other person. The object of this proposal is in cases of default and breaches of the by-laws to enable the notice required to be served in the case of vacant premises to be posted on the premises. This Amendment is to carry out a suggestion made by the hon. and learned Member for Waterford and it is intended to make the enforcement of the by-laws more simple.

Amendment agreed to.

Motion made, and Question proposed, That the Bill be now read the third time.

Mr. O'CONNOR

The Third Reading of this measure has come on a little more suddenly than was anticipated, but I am entirely in accord with the request of the right hon. and learned Gentleman that we should take the Third Heading now. The sooner this Bill is on the Statue Rook the better. There were one or two points of criticism which some of my hon. Friends more acquainted than myself with this problem wish to raise, but we feel very strongly about the necessity for this Bill creating better conditions in Ireland. I hope the Attorney-General will be able to assure us that the Government are about to proceed with the supplementary Bill which has been promised in regard to the Labourers Acts. If we find that the Bill is not as successful as its authors anticipate, we may be compelled to raise the question again. The question of the power of raising money was raised by my hon. Friends from "Belfast, and I imagine that it will be raised again in the brief discussion which will be required on this Bill. I hope we may find that point satisfactorily met by the right hon. Gentleman. There was also a proposal advanced very ably by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Waterford (Captain Redmond) with regard to certain retrospective provisions which might have been inserted in the Bill. It is rather hard that those authorities in Ireland that have had the energy and the patriotism to enter upon this work before the Bill comes into operation should find themselves shut out from the great benefits of the measure. As chairman of the Committee, I am bound to maintain neutrality upon the Bill, but I will express the hope that it will produce that revolution in an intolerable position in Ireland to which we all look forward.

Mr. HENRY

This Bill deals only with urban districts, but I am able to assure the hon. Member that a Bill to amend the Labourers Act will be introduced at the earliest possible moment, and so far as possible will be pressed on concurrently with the Bill now before the House. I regret to say with regard to some of the other matters to which the hon. Member has referred that the Government were not able to meet hon. Members from the North and the rest of Ireland more than half-way. I think my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary went a long way in trying to get all the concessions that he could in reference to the finance of the Bill and other matters. Although we have not been able to satisfy everyone who brought forward Amendments we have given very substantial concessions, and I trust that the Bill will become the law of the land in a short time and that the result, with the companion Bill which we undertake to introduce, will be to confer a very great benefit both upon those in the urban and rural districts of Ireland.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the third time, and passed.