CLAUSE 10.—(Power of Minister to act in default of county councils who have not provided sufficient smallholdings.) (Hansard, 5 February 1931)

§ Dr. ADDISON

I beg to move, in page 13, line 10, at the end, to insert the words: (2) The person appointed to hold a local inquiry for the purpose of this section shall be a person to be agreed upon between the Minister and the county council or, in default of such agreement, a barrister of not less than ten years' standing to be nominated by the president of the Law Society, and, in relation to the inquiry, the person so appointed shall be deemed for the purposes of Section fifty-seven of the Smallholdings and Allotments Act, 1908, to be an officer of the Ministry. This Amendment arises out of a discussion which we had in Committee. It was felt that in regard to the holding of a local inquiry as between the Ministry and the county council the per- 2230 son holding such inquiry should not be an officer of the Ministry, otherwise the Ministry would be judge in its own case, which might be regarded as not fair to the county council. That was a fair criticism, and it was agreed that such inquiry should not be conducted, as most inquiries are conducted, by an officer of the Ministry but by someone who would be regarded by the county council and the Ministry as an impartial and independent person. I am advised that a suitable person to hold such an inquiry would be a barrister of not less than 10 years' standing, to be nominated by the president of the Law Society. This is not a technical agricultural question, but purely a question as to whether the council has or has not satisfied the applicant. It is purely a question for a legally trained person to inquire into. It is a land question, a surveyor's question and one which a person trained in legal matters and in weighing evidence can deal with.