ASSESSMENT OF COMPENSATION— [SALARIES.] (Hansard, 13 May 1919)

§ Sir D. MACLEAN
Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman desires to finish the remarks he was making when I intervened last night?

§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Fisher)
The Resolution under consideration is very limited in its scope. It will be within the recollec- 1536 tion of the House that the Bill for land acquisition made provision for the establishment of a panel of official valuers. It is further provided "That a member of this panel while holding office shall not himself engage or be a partner of any other person who engages in private practice or business as an estate or land agent, surveyor or valuer. In the third place it is provided that there shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament to official valuers such salaries or remuneration as the Treasury may determine."
The Financial Resolution now before the House deals with the salaries which in pursuance of that Clause are to be paid to the official valuers, and the number of official valuers to be appointed. The White Paper shows that the number of official valuers required for the purposes of this Bill is eight—five for England and Wales, two for Scotland, and one for Ireland. The salary of the official valuer shall be a sum not exceeding £3,000. The total sum, therefore, required in salaries is a sum not exceeding £24,000 a year. When this question was touched on the Second Reading of the Bill there was a conflict of opinion as to whether the official valuers to be appointed under the Bill were to be whole-time or part-time officials. Although there was a division of opinion on that, there was no division of opinion as to the importance adequately of paying the valuers. The hon. and learned Gentleman for the Exchange Division was of opinion that the official valuers ought not to be debarred from private practice, but he was so strongly of opinion that they should be well paid. The hon. and gallant Gentleman for the Horn castle Division was in favour of full-time appointments, and was also strongly of opinion that the men should be properly remunerated. I hope the House will feel that the proposed remuneration is not inappropriate. We feel that it is very important that the Government should employ the men in question, and also important that the official valuer under this Bill should consider himself to be engaged in discharging work of great difficulty and requiring great experience. With that explanation I hope the Committee will see fit to pass this Financial Resolution.

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER
I think the right hon. Gentleman has already spoken on this Motion.

§ Sir D. MACLEAN
On a point of Order; but I would rather not raise that point of Order, if by leave of the House I may speak again. [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear!"] The question which my right hon. Friend has raised in this Resolution is one of considerable importance. I am afraid, owing to some conversation near me, I rather missed the point of some of his remarks, and as to whether the intention is to make whole or part-time appointments—

§ Mr. FISHER
Whole-time officers.

§ Sir D. MACLEAN
—rather than part-time officers. I only, however, wish to draw the attention of my right hon. Friend to this: that I object altogether to the system of valuation of which this Financial Resolution is a necessary part. I am not going into that, however—

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER
We are here only dealing with matters covered by the Financial Resolution.

§ Sir D. MACLEAN
I was only going to point out that there is another scheme which, I think, would be in order, although, perhaps, the proper place to deal with it is before the Committee upstairs. I think, by utilising the existing authorities of the Inland Revenue, we might avoid a very large amount of expense which it is proposed to incur under the Resolution which is now submitted to the House. I wish to safeguard the position upstairs by making that statement on this purely Financial Resolution on the ground of economy.