TENTH SCHEDULE.—(Adaptation of Enactments.) (Hansard, 1 February 1929)

§ Sir K. WOOD
I beg to move, in page 123, line 16, at the end, to insert the words: 2. Section twenty-three of the Metropolitan Police Act, 1829 (which prescribes the basis on which sums required for the purposes of the Metropolitan police are to be raised) shall have effect as if there were therein substituted for the words from 'shall not exceed' to 'county rate' the words 'shall be assessed on the rateable value of all hereditaments within the parish, township, precinct, or place as appearing in the valuation list for the time being in force.' This deals with a very technical subject, and I do not know that the Committee would wish me to explain it in detail.

§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Lord Eustace Percy)
I beg to move, in page 124, line 44, at the end, to insert the words: 9. For sub-section (2) of section one hundred and twenty-two of the Education Act, 1921, there shall be substituted the following sub-section:— (2) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section as to consultation before charging certain expenses on certain areas any charge or allocation of expenses made by a county council under this section or under any corresponding enactment repealed by this Act may at any time be cancelled or varied by the county council. This is an Amendment to deal with the question of preferential rating. The county councils have power to levy a differential rate on parishes or districts in respect of higher elementary and secondary schools. Very few counties now exercise this power. It is clearly desirable that differential rating should be dropped in all counties. But there is at present some doubt as to the extent of the power of the county councils to vary or cancel existing charges made upon parishes or districts. The Amendment makes it clear that the county council, if it abandons the system of preferential rating, can cancel any charge made upon any local district in the past.

§ Miss LAWRENCE
This is a difficult and technical matter, and I am not at all certain of the expense that may be thrown on other districts. The proposal ought to be accompanied by some sort of financial statement or illustration. These are matters which later on may provoke considerable discussion.

§ Sir K. WOOD
As far as I am aware there is no further expense incurred as a result of this Amendment, but I will certainly look into the point that has been raised and see if there is any substance in it. At present I do not think there will be any extra expense involved.

§ Mr. CECIL WILSON
Does this apply to county boroughs also?

§ Lord E. PERCY
I do not think there is any power, and certainly there is no practice in any county borough that I know of, to make a differential charge in respect of higher elementary and secondary schools.

§ Sir K. WOOD
I beg to move, in page 124, line 44, after the words last inserted, to insert the words: 9. Section ten of the Allotments Act, 1922, shall not apply to land which is agricultural land within the meaning of Part V of this Act. This Section enables an authority to take land compulsorily for allotments if it is not subject to rateable occupation. The result of the Bill is to make agricultural land no longer subject to rateable occupation, and this Amendment is required in order to make a corresponding modification in the Allotments Act.

§ The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Guinness)
I beg to move, in page 125, line 14, at the end, to insert the words: 12. Sub-section (2) of section seventeen of the Tithe Act, 1925, shall, for the purposes of any application for the redemption of any lay tithe rentcharge on any land made by the owner of the land on or after the first day of October, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, have effect as if—

(a) for the words 'then if the land charged with the tithe rentcharge, except so far as it consists of buildings in the same occupation, is agricultural land for the purposes of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896' there were substituted the words 'then, if and so far as the land charged with the tithe rentcharge is agricultural land or agricultural buildings within the meaning of Part V of the Local Government Act, 1929,'; and

(b) for the words 'any rate to which the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, applies,' there were substituted the words 'any general rate (including any additional item thereof)'; and

(c) there were inserted at the end of the sub-section the following words:—
'In relation to any period before the date on which the first general rate under the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, became leviable in the rating area in which the land is situate, the reference in this sub-section to a general rate shall be construed as a reference to any rate to which the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, applied during the said period in that area.' This Amendment is consequential on the abolition of the assessment of agri- 1299 cultural land. Section 17 of the Tithe Act of 1925 provided that in the case of the owner of agricultural land subject to tithe applying for redemption, two-thirds only of the average rates to which the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, applied, and paid by the tithe owner, should be deducted from the gross annual value of the tithe rentcharge. We have to find a new basis for this deduction. We cannot deduct the average value of rates to which the Act of 1896 applied now that that Act is to be abolished and therefore we provide in the Amendment that in future the calculation will be made on the basis of the general rate.