CLAUSE 17—(Provisions as to factory premises occupied under short leases.) (Hansard, 13 June 1939)

§ Sir J. Anderson

I beg to move, in page 17, line 16, at the end, to insert: Where the air-raid shelter which has been provided in pursuance of the notice provides a greater degree of protection or accommodation than is contemplated by the code, no greater expense shall be deemed for the purposes of this sub-section to have been reasonably incurred in executing the works for the purpose of providing the shelter than would have been so incurred if that greater degree of protection or accommodation had not been provided. The terms are, what I said previously in regard to the scope of the provision with reference to the standard shelter, the standard laid down as the minimum. The effect of the Amendment is that where the occupier of factory premises held under a short lease has chosen to provide a shelter going beyond the minimum standard laid down by the code the landlord who, on termination of the lease, 1225 has to assume liability for a proportion of the cost has not to pay for the shelter in excess of the standard. It seemed to me and my advisers only right that that should be provided. If a shelter in excess of the approved standard is provided with the approval of the Minister, and he considers that it is reasonable in the circumstances, the Minister pays grant in respect of the approved standard, but it is not thought right that the second party should be required to pay for the extra protection which the first party thought fit to provide. That is entirely consistent with the general structure of the Bill.