§ (1) Any order for the compulsory acquisition of land which is duly made after the date of the passing of this Act and before the expiration of two years from that date by a council under the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), need not, except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, be submitted to or confirmed by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, but shall have effect as if it had been so confirmed.
§ Sir K. WOODI beg to move, in Sub-section (1), to leave out the words
and before the expiration of two years from that date.Clause 1 suspends the requirements as to confirmation of orders for the acquisition of land. No doubt it will considerably help the allotment-holders of the country to obtain land for the purposes of allotments but unfortunately the suspension of those requirements, which are most cumbersome and which delay the acquisition of land considerably, is under this Clause limited to two years from the date of the passing of the Act. That is a most inconvenient date from the point of view of the allotment-holders of the country, for this reason, that a very large number of them will be holding allotments for about that period, and just when the time arrives for other land, as we hope, to be obtained for them then the benefit of this Clause is lost. Therefore, I hope my hon. Friend will either accept my Amendment or extend the period of two years to some further period which will allow this suspension to remain in operation for at any 1214 rate a sufficient time to enable such a large number of allotment-holders to have the benefit of the Clause.
§ Brigadier-General COLVINI beg to second the Amendment.
Sir A. BOSCAWENI regret that I cannot accept this Amendment, and I think the House will see there are very good? reasons against it. Clause 1 says that for a period of two years the necessity of the confirmation of an order of compulsory purchase or hiring shall be suspended. It means that a council may make a compulsory order to acquire a bit of land, and without any confirmation by the Board of Agriculture, without a public inquiry where the pros and cons may be stated, without any of those necessary formalities, which really are a protection to owners of property and to the public generally, without any of that protection the thing shall be done. We have heard nothing about Trotsky, or I think I might be called a Trotsky in connection with this Clause, which is a very drastic and extreme Clause, but we think it is justifiable for what we may call the emergency period during which councils have to buy land in large quantities. We expect a very big land settlement which is to be tackled in the next two years. We want, therefore, during this emergency period to have the quickest possible powers of action, and, therefore, for the emergency period only, which we put at two years, we suspend these very necessary measures of protection.
My hon Friend proposes to make these very extreme proposals permanent, and we really cannot agree to that. I do not think the House thinks that, as a general rule, property should be acquired without the necessity of a public inquiry, without the body which proposes to acquire being in a position to state what they have in view, and without persons interested in that property, whether they are owners, or whether they are tenants, or whatever rights they may have, stating their case. There are two proposals for accelerating the acquisition of land in this Bill. The first is contained in Clause 1—that is the suspension of the necessity for confirmation with the public inquiry which is involved; that is limited to two years, and we reckon that will probably save something like three months in each case. But Clause 2 is really far more important. That gives us the right of immediate entry, and that will save a great deal more than. 1215 three months. It may save as much as fifteen or sixteen months in the case of ordinary tenancies, and that Clause is permanent, and, therefore, from the point of view of getting land for allotments, you will always have in future the advantages of Clause 2, which enable a council, having purchased land, to enter immediately. We hope that after the two years the biggest amount of land necessary for small holdings and allotments will have been acquired, certainly for small holdings, because unless the thing is done quickly it is no good doing it at all. After that the power of acquiring compulsorily is not taken away. It remains, but it will be subject to the confirmation; that is all. We only suspend that during the emergency period, during which a great deal of land will be bought, and during which, therefore, the confirmation would cause a delay which would be disastrous. But after the emergency period is over it is only necessary really for councils to lay their plans sufficiently well in advance and to proceed with their orders and get confirmation. I could not possibly assent to making it part of the permanent law of the land that a public authority should for any purpose acquire land compulsorily without confirmation and a public inquiry.
§ Mr. ACLANDI understand the point of view of the Minister in charge of the Bill, but he has not quite closed the door to any extension of the period of two years. There is an Amendment later, and perhaps the hon. Gentleman will say whether he cannot meet us to some extent by extending the period of two years to five years, or, say, four years, because a good many of us have in mind that really this emergency period will not be over within two years from the passing of the Act, which we hope may be during next month. That would go a very considerable way, I think, to meeting the case of my hon. Friend, and I do not think it will be accompanied by any risk of injustice to landowners. There is every necessity to convince the public that there will be no delays whatever in enabling ex-Service men to get settled on the land. It is a very difficult process, and county councils as a whole are working at it very hard indeed, but I fancy they will find their work will not be over in two years' time, and therefore I hope the Minister in charge of the Bill will be able to meet 1216 us to some extent, although I accept his argument that he does not want to embody in permanent legislation the suspension of the necessity of holding public inquiries.
§ Sir K. WOODLord Ernle the other day described the procedure which the Parliamentary Secretary thinks so necessary in future as complicated and cumbersome, and I venture to ask who to-day can say what the emergency period will be? My hon. Friend, it is true, has fixed it in this Bill at two years, but I think he might very well consider the question of the extension of that tension. There is the special case of these allotment-holders, whose tenure will in very many cases cease in two years' time, and they will not be able to obtain the advantage of this acceleration by taking land for that particular purpose. I think if he can see his way, at t any rate, to extend the period a little, he will be helping the allotment-holders of the country, as I know he desires to do.
Sir A. BOSCAWENI cannot accept this Amendment, which makes it permanent, but if anybody moves something such as three years I will be prepared to extend it to that period.
§ Sir K. WOODThank you. I will ask leave to withdraw my Amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Amendment made: Leave out the word "two" ["expiration of two years."], and insert instead thereof the word "three."— [Sir K. Wood.]