§ (1) The Minister, if in any case he is of opinion after consultation with the agricultural committee (if any) for the area in which the land is situate—
- (a) that any land is not being cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry; or
- (b) that the production of food on any land can in the national interest and without injuriously affecting the persons interested in the land be maintained or increased by the occupier by means of an improvement in the existing method of cultivation or by the use of the land for arable cultivation; or
- (c) that the occupier of land has unreasonably neglected to execute thereon the necessary works of maintenance being, in the case of land occupied by a tenant, works which he is liable to execute under the conditions of his tenancy or rendered necessary by his act or default; or
- (d) that the owner of land in the occupation of a tenant has unreasonably neglected to execute thereon the necessary works of maintenance, not being works to which the preceding paragraph applies;
§ Provided that if any person on whom any notice is served under this Section is aggrieved by the notice, he may within the prescribed time require the question whether the land has been cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry, or whether the production of food on the land can in the national interest be maintained or increased by the occupier by means of the required improvement in the existing method of cultivation or by the use of the land for arable cultivation or whether such improvement or use will injuriously affect the persons interested in the land, or whether the works required to be executed are necessary works of maintenance for the proper cultivation or working of the land, or whether the time specified in the notice for the execution of such works is reasonable, to be referred to arbitration in accordance with Part IV. of the Act of 1917, and where any question is so referred to arbitration no action shall be taken for enforcing the directions given by the Minister until the determination of the reference or except in accordance with the terms of the award, and, where the person on whom any notice is served is a tenant, the landlord shall have the same right as the tenant of requiring any question to be referred to arbitration.
§ (2) Where any notice is served on a tenant, a copy of the notice shall at the same time be served on the landlord.
§ (3) Where a notice has been served under this Section on the owner or occupier of any land requiring him within a time specified in the notice to execute some work and that person unreasonably fails to comply with the requirements of the notice he shall be liable, on summary conviction in respect of each offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds and to a further fine not exceeding twenty shillings for every day during which the default continues after conviction.
§ Provided that—
- (a)proceedings for an offence under this Sub-section shall not be instituted except by the Minister; and
- (b) the Minister shall be entitled to execute any work specified in the notice, and to recover summarily as a civil debt from the person in default the reasonable cost of executing such work in a proper and workmanlike manner, and the right to institute any such proceedings shall not be prejudiced by the fact that
381 the Minister has executed the work specified in the notice.
§ (4) Where a notice has been served on the owner of any land in the occupation of a tenant requiring him within a time specified in the notice to execute necessary works of maintenance and the owner fails to comply with the requirements of the notice, the Minister may authorise the tenant to execute the works in a proper and workmanlike manner, and a tenant so authorised shall be entitled to execute the works accordingly, and at any time after the works have been executed to recover from the owner the costs reasonably incurred by him in so doing, in the same manner in all respects as if those costs were compensation awarded in respect of an improvement under the Act of 1908.
§ (5) A notice under this Section shall not require any work to be executed within a period of less than one month from the date of the notice unless in the opinion of the Minister it is necessary that the work should be executed within some shorter period specified in the notice.
§ (6) If, in the opinion of the Minister, the occupier fails to cultivate the land in accordance with directions so given, the Minister, after the prescribed notice, may, if the occupier in default is a tenant, by order determine the tenancy of the holding or of any part thereof at the expiration of the current year of the tenancy, not being less than two months after the making of the Order, and, if the occupier in default is not a tenant, enter on and take possession of the land, or of the holding, of which it forms part, for such time, and (either himself or by any person authorised by him) do all such things as appear to him necessary or desirable for the cultivation of the land of which possession has been taken, or for adapting such land for cultivation.
§ Any such Order of the Minister may contain such provisions as the Minister thinks fit for adjusting the relations of landlord and tenant where the tenancy is determined; and any such provision of the Order shall have effect as if it was contained in the contract of tenancy.
§ (7) Where it is represented to the Minister by an agricultural committee that the owner of any agricultural estate or land situate wholly or partly in the area of the committee, whether the estate of land or any part thereof is or is not in the occupation of tenants, cultivates or manages the estate or land in a manner inconsistent with good estate management, and so as to prejudice materially the production of rood thereon, the Minister may, if he thinks it necessary or desirable so to do in the national interest, and after making such inquiry as he thinks proper and after taking into consideration any representations made to him by the owner, by Order appoint such person as he thinks fit to act as receiver and manager of the estate or land or any part thereof:
§ Provided that—
- (a) An Order made under this Sub-section shall not, except where the person appointed by the Order to act
382 as receiver and manager of the estate or land is appointed to act in the place of a person previously appointed under this Sub-section, take effect until a period of six months has elapsed after the date on which notice of the Order having been made was given to the owner of the estate or land, and the owner may at any time during the said period appeal against the Order to the High Court in accordance with rules of court, and where any such appeal is made the Order shall not take effect pending the determination of the appeal; and - (b) An Order made under this Subsection shall not, except with the consent of the owner, extend to a mansion house, or the garden or grounds attached thereto, or to any land which at the date of the Order forms part of any park or of any home farm attached to and usually occupied with the mansion house, and which is required for the amenity or convenience of the mansion house; and
- (c) the Order shall not operate to deprive any person, except with his consent, of any sporting rights over the estate or land which do not interfere with the production of food on the estate or land; and
- (d) any person appointed to act as receiver and manager of any estate or land under this Section shall render a yearly report and statement of accounts to the owner or his agent and to the Minister;
- (e) the powers conferred by the foregoing provisions shall he in addition to and not in derogation of any other powers conferred on the Minister under this Section.
§ The Minister may by an Order made under this provision apply for the purposes of the Order, with such modifications as he thinks fit, any of the provisions of Section twenty-four of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 1881, which relates to the powers, remuneration and duties of receivers appointed by mortgagees, and authorise the receiver to exercise such other powers vested in the owner of the estate or land as may be specified in the Order and may be reasonably necessary for the proper discharge by him of his duties as receiver and manager.
§ Provided that the receiver and manager shall not have power to sell or create any charge upon the estate or land or any part thereof except with the consent of the owner or with the approval of the High Court obtained upon an application made for the purpose in accordance with rules of court.
§ The owner of any estate or land in respect of which an Order has been made under this Sub-section may, at any time after the expiration of three years from the date of the Order, or after any change in the ownership of the estate or land, apply to the Minister to have the Order appointing the receiver and manager revoked, and if on any such 383 application the Minister refuses to revoke the Order the owner may appeal against the refusal to the High Court, in accordance with rules of court.
§ (8) If within one month after the Minister has entered on or appointed a receiver and manager in respect of any land the owner of the land so requires, a record of the condition of the buildings, fences, gates, roads, drains, ditches, and cultivation of the land shall be made within three months after the date of requisition by a person to be appointed, in default of agreement, by the President of the Surveyors' Institution; and in default of agreement the cost of making such record shall be borne by the Minister and the owner in equal portions.
§ (9) Where the Minister has entered on any land under this provision he may, after the prescribed notice, let the land or, with the consent of the owner, any part thereof for any term not exceeding five years on such terms and conditions as the Minister thinks fit and at the best rent that, having regard to such terms and conditions, can reasonably be obtained.
§ Provided that—
- (a) before any contract of tenancy is executed by the Minister under this provision a draft thereof shall be sent to the owner of the land and a reasonable opportunity afforded him of objecting to any provision therein; and
- (b) a copy of the contract of tenancy shall be sent to such owner as soon as possible after its execution.
§ (10) Any notice given by the Minister for the purposes of this Section, which directs the suspension of any covenant or condition, shall be sufficient defence to any action or other proceeding in respect of any breach of, or non-compliance with, the covenant or condition so far as the breach or non-compliance is authorised by the notice of suspension.
§ (11) If, at any time after a contract of tenancy of any land has been created by the Minister, the owner of the land requires the Minister to withdraw, the Minister shall so withdraw as soon as reasonably may be.
§ (12) When the Minister at any time withdraws from possession of any land of which he has taken possession under this Section—
- (a) he shall before withdrawing (except where the withdrawal is required by the owner of the land) give the prescribed notice in writing of his intention to the person then entitled to resume occupation of the land, and such notice shall be given not less than three months previously to the withdrawal by the Minister, and shall expire on one of the half-yearly days customary in the district where the land is situate; and
- (b) he may recover from the person then entitled to resume occupation of the land such amount as represents the value to that person of all acts of cultivation or adaptation for culti-
384 vation executed by the Minister; and - (c) the land shall be subject to any tenancy created by the Minister in like manner as if the tenancy had been created by the person who would but for the tenancy have been entitled to resume occupation of the land.
§ (13) Any person who is interested in any land of which possession is taken under this Section, and who suffers any loss by reason of the exercise of the powers conferred by this Section in that behalf, shall, if he makes a claim for the purpose before the expiration of such period, not being less than one year, after the exercise of the powers as may be prescribed by the Minister, be entitled to be paid by the Minister such amount or amounts by way of periodical payments or otherwise as may represent the loss.
§ (14) The amount recoverable or payable by the Minister under Sub-section (12) or Sub-section (13) of this Section shall be determined in each case in default of agreement by arbitration under Part IV of the Act of 1917.
§ (15) For the purposes of this Section the expression "necessary works of maintenance" means such of the following works as are necessary for the proper cultivation and working of the land on which they are to be executed (that is to say):—
- (a)The maintenance and clearing of drains, embankments, and ditches;
- (b) the maintenance and proper repair of farm roads, fences, stone walls, gates, and hedges;
- (c)the execution of repairs to buildings;
§ Prvided that a notice under Sub-section (1) of this Section requiring any person to maintain or clear any drains, embankments, or ditches shall not operate so as to impose on that person any obligation in that behalf if and so far as the execution of the works required is rendered impossible by reason of the subsidence of any land or the blocking of outfalls which are not under the control of that person.
§ (16) Where the Minister is satisfied that there are injurious weeds to which this Sub section applies growing upon any land, he may serve upon the occupier of the land a notice in writing requiring him to cut down or destroy the weeds in the manner and with in the time specified in the notice, and where any such notice is given the provisions of Sub-section (3) of this Section shall, with the necessary modifications, apply as if the land were land which was not being cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry, and as if a notice had been served on the occupier under Sub-section (1) of this Section.
§ The expression "occupier" in this Subsection means, in the case of any public road, the authority by whom the road is being maintained, and, in the case of unoccupied 385 land, the person entitled to the occupation thereof.
§ Regulations may be made under this Act for prescribing the injurious weeds to which this Sub-section is to apply.—[Sir A. Boscawen.]
| FIRST SCHEDULE. | |||
| MINOR AMENDMENTS OF AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS ACT, 1908. | |||
| Enactment to be Amended. | Nature of Amendment. | ||
| Section forty-eight | … | … | For the words "cultivated as a market garden" there shall be substituted the words "cultivated as a market or allotment garden." |
§ Amendment made: Leave out the words:
| Section forty-eight | … | … | For the words "cultivated as a market garden" there shall be substituted the words "cultivated as a market or allotment garden."—[Sir A. Boscawen.] |
| SECOND SCHEDULE. | ||
| ENACTMENTS REPEALED. | ||
| Session and Chapter. | Short Title. | Extent of Repeal. |
| 7 & 8 Geo. 5, c.46. | The Corn Production Act, 1917. | Sub-section (1) of Section two; in sub-section (1) of Section nine the words form "(b) that for the purpose of" to the words, "as the case may be," both inclusive, and in the proviso to that Sub-section the words "or whether it is undesirable in the interest of food production that the change should apply to any portion of the land included in the notice"; in "make such order as seems to them required in the circumstances, either authorizing the landlord to determine the tenancy of the holding, or determining the tenancy by virtue of the order"; in Sub-section (4) of that Section the words "If within three months after the Board have entered on any land the person who was in occupation of the land at the time of the entry so requires"; in Sub-section (9) of that Section the words "in respect of which any notice is served or order made under this Section or"; Sub-section (2) of Section nineteen. |
| 8 & 9 Geo. 5, c. 35. | The Corn Production (Amendment) Act,1918. | The Whole Act. |
§ Amendment made: Leave out the words:
§ in Sub-section (1) of Section nine the words from "(b) that for the purpose of" to the words "as the case may be," both inclusive, and in the proviso to that Sub-section the words "or whether it is
386§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ undesirable in the interest of food pro- duction that the change should apply to any portion of the land included in the notice"; in Sub-section (3)of that Section the words "make such Order as "seems to theme required in the circum- stances, either authorizing the landlord to determine the tenancy of the holding, 387 or determining the tenancy by virtue of the Order"; in Sub-section (4) of that Section the words "If within three months after the Board have entered on any land, the person who was in occupation of the land at the time of the entry so requires"; in Sub-section (9) of that Section the words "in respect of which any notice is served or Order made under this Section or"; and insert instead thereof the words "Section nine."—[Sir A. Boscawen.]
§ Bill reported; as amended (on re-committal) considered.