HC Deb 25 October 1949 vol 468 cc1179-81
Mr. Blenkinsop

I beg to move, in page 29, line 18, to leave out from "to," to the first "Rules," in line 20, and to insert "the Lands Tribunal.

(2)" This Amendment and the four following are of a drafting nature and have been caused by the passing of the Lands Tribunal Act.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendments made: In page 29, line 21, leave out "that Act," and insert: the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919.

In line 22, leave out from "acquisition)," to "shall," in line 24.

In line 24, leave out "this subsection but," and insert: any such arbitration. (3) For the purposes of any such arbitration section five of the said Act of 1919 (which relates to costs) shall have effect.

In line 25, leave out "in the said section five."—[Mr. Blenkinsop.]

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Thomas Fraser)

I beg to move, in page 29, line 28, to leave out subsection (2), and to insert: (4) This section shall apply to Scotland with the substitution for the words 'the Lands Tribunal' in subsection (1) thereof of the words 'the Lands Tribunal for Scotland': Provided that until sections one to three of the Lands Tribunal Act, 1949, come into force as respects Scotland the expression the Lands Tribunal for Scotland' shall be construed as meaning an official arbiter appointed under the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, and the following provisions of the said Act of 1919, that is to say, section three thereof (which relates to procedure), section five thereof (which relates to costs) as modified by sections five and ten of the said Act of 1949, but with the substitution for references to the acquiring authority of references to the coast protection authority, and section six thereof (which relates to the statement of special cases) as modified by section ten of the said Act of 1949, shall apply for the purposes of the arbitration. This Amendment is consequential on the Amendments just made, except that we have a long proviso in the application of the Clause to Scotland which is rendered necessary as it is not expected that there will be sufficient work to justify the establishment of a full-scale lands tribunal for Scotland for some time, and for such time we wish to have these matters settled by the official arbiter.

Mr. McKie (Galloway)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for what he has said, but to a layman like myself his quite simple words do not appear to make this somewhat complicated Amendment any more easy to understand. I hope that those who concern themselves with administering this new subsection will find their task easier than I have found the task of understanding what the new subsection means and my difficulty in listening to the Joint Under-Secretary and comprehending what he was trying to say. This matter teems with references, and all of us on both sides of the House deplore legislation by reference. If we wanted a prize product of that kind of thing, we could not have a better example than that before us.

Amendment agreed to.