HC Deb 07 July 1938 vol 338 cc660-4

Lords Amendment: In page 39, line 42, leave out "and 'freeholder' means such a proprietor."

6.9 p.m.

The Solicitor-General for Scotland (Mr. James Reid)

I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

This Amendment and the following Amendments are intended to apply other Amendments to Scotland and are necessitated by changes made in the substance of the Bill.

Subsequent Lords Amendment in page 39, line 43, agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 40, line 1, leave out from "under lease" to "an," in line 2, and insert: and sub-demise means sub-lease; any reference to a lease or,".

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

This is a consequential Amendment.

Mr. Pritt

Surely, the combined efforts of this House and another place ought to be able to produce something less slovenly than the words: an under lease derived out of another lease shall be construed as a reference to a sublease, etc. How can an under-lease be a reference to a sub-lease?

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I must confess that I had some doubt about the wording when I looked at it, but on reading it it seemed to me that it was in order. However, I will look at it again.

Mr. Pritt

The words should be "a reference to any lease shall be construed as a reference, etc."

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

The words as now inserted are: Any reference to a lease or an underlease derived out of another lease shall be construed as a reference to a sub-lease granted by a superior lessee. I think the hon. and learned Member has omitted to notice that there has already been put in the words: Sub-demise means sub-lease; any reference to a lease or. I think that may clear up the matter.

Sir S. Cripps

I am sure that the hon. and learned Member opposite will be satisfied now that he has been assisted to a solution by his brother lawyer.

Subsequent Lords Amendment, in page 40, line 7, agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 41, line 15, leave out "or the Court of Appeal."

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

6.15 p.m.

Mr. Robert Gibson

Some difficulty arises here. It is in this Clause that you get any reference to the High Court or the Court of Appeal. In the body of the Bill the reference, so far as I have been able to discover, is to the court, not to the High Court. The term "court" is not defined in Clause 40, and in a previous Lords Amendment it was a reference to the court not to the High Court. In a section of the Clause there is a reference to "the court in which proceedings are pending," and in Clause 9, Subsection (3), there is also a reference to "the court" which makes a declaration. It is not the High Court. Accordingly it seems to me that the Lords Amendment should read "the court" and not the Court of Appeal.

6.16 p.m.

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I think the matter is plain. Where there is a reference in the Bill to "the court" there is no need to translate, and in Scotland "the court" means the Court of Session.

Mr. Gibson

It is always a matter of definition.

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

No, I think not. It is plain that where there is a reference in the Bill to "the court," and nothing more is said, there is no need to translate it, because a reference to "the court" in a Scottish Act is an intelligible reference. The difference is where it is a reference to the High Court. It is true that in the Clauses to which the hon. and learned Member has referred, the reference is to "the court," but there are references, particularly in the Schedule, to the High Court. We have no High Court in Scotland and, therefore, it means the Court of Session. The reason why the Court of Appeal is taken out of the Bill is because there is no reference in the Bill to the Court of Appeal.

Lords Amendment: In page 41, line 17, at the end, insert: and for any reference to a receiver of the rents and profits of premises there shall be substituted a reference to a judicial factor.

(7) Any question which is required in pursuance of this Act to be referred to arbitration shall be referred to a single arbiter agreed on by the parties or appointed in default of agreement by the sheriff;

(8) In any arbitration in pursuance of this Act, the arbiter may, and, if so directed by the Court of Session, shall, state a case for the opinion of that Court on any question of law arising in the arbitration."

6.18 p.m.

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I beg to move, as an Amendment to the Lords Amendment, in line 7, to leave out "sheriff," and to insert "Lord President of the Court of Session."

The reason for moving this Amendment is because in a number of other Clauses in the Bill there is a provision for the Lord President of the Court of Session to act as the nominator of the arbiter in certain matters, and under this provision any question in law will ultimately come to the Court of Session, not to the sheriff. Therefore, for both these reasons it is more appropriate that the arbiter should be appointed by the Lord President rather than by the sheriff.

Amendment to Lords Amendment agreed to.

Question, "That this House doth agree with the Lords Amendment, as amended," put, and agreed to.—[The Solicitor-General for Scotland.]

Lords Amendment: In page 41, line 30, leave out Sub-section (9).

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I beg to move, "That this House doth agre with the Lords in the said Amendment."

This is, a drafting Amendment made necessary by alterations in the Bill. There being no longer any Clause 5 in its original form, it is not necessary to translate.

Lords Amendment: In page 42, line 26 at the end, insert: (15) The aggregate of the values of (a) any coal or mine of coal and any property and rights vested in the Commission by virtue of this Act, and (b) any erections or structural improvements used exclusively for the purpose of working or cleaning such coal, entered in any Valuation Roll or Supplementary Valuation Roll for any period ending after the vesting date, shall not exceed the value or values at which such coal, mine of coal, property and rights and such erections or improvements would have been so entered if this Act had not passed, and, notwithstanding anything contained in Section six of the Lands Valuation (Scotland) Act, 1854, as amended by any subsequent enactment, no entry shall be made in any such roll in respect of erections or structural improvements used exclusively for the purpose of working or cleaning coal by reason only of the fact, that in consequence of the vesting of the coal in the Commission under this Act, the land on which the said erections or structural improvements are situated is not included in the lease of the coal.

Mr. Deputy-Speaker

I must point out that this Amendment raises a question of Privilege.

The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

This new Sub-section is rendered necessary by a doubt expressed in another place as to the possible effects on rating of the changes made by this Bill. The doubt was whether the severance of coal from the surface might in certain circumstances render the annual rateable value of the subject higher than it would have been if matters had been left as before. It is not the intention of the Government that the result of the Bill should be to increase the burden of the local rates, end therefore, this Sub-section is put in with a view of obviating any possibility of that occurring.

Question put, and agreed to.—[Special Entry.]