§ In section sixty four of the Act of 1925 (which relates to the compulsory purchase of land for the purposes of Part III of that Act) for the reference to land which has been acquired by any corporation or company for the purposes of a railway, dock, canal, water or other public undertaking, there shall be substituted a reference to land which is the property of statutory undertakers, having been acquired by them for the purpose of their undertaking.—[The Solicitor-General.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ 11.10 a.m.
§ The SOLICITOR - GENERAL (Sir Donald Somervell)I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
This new Clause arises in this way. When the Bill was being considered in Committee upstairs, we came upon the form of words defining "statutory undertakers." Those words will be found in the present Clause 15, and obviously relate to the old days, in that they specifically refer to railways, docks, canals and water, but make no reference to electricity, which is an important form of public statutory undertaking in these days. It was pointed out that it might be desirable, and we accepted the suggestion, to introduce a more up-to-date form of words. It is all so necessary in this connection to amend the Act of 1925. It would be highly undesirable to have two different definitions in two Housing Acts, and, therefore, this Clause deals with the Act of 1925. It simply uses the words "statutory undertakers," and the Committee will find a later Amendment in page 2249 of the Order Paper in which we are inserting in the Bill in the appropriate place, a definition of "statutory undertakers," and it refers specifically to all the various activities which could be involved.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Clause added to the Bill.