HL Deb 10 August 1896 vol 44 cc296-9

This Act shall apply to Scotland with the following modifications:—

(1.) In Section five of this Act the expression "Secretary for Scotland" shall be substituted for the expressions "Board of Agriculture" and "Board of Trade" respectively, occurring in that section.

(2.) References to the council of any county, borough, or district shall be construed as references to the county council of any county, or the town council, or where there is no town council the police commissioners of any burgh, or the commissioners of any police burgh, or the district committee of any district under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889; or in any county where there is no district committee any two or more parish councils may combine.

(3.) "Arbiter" shall be substituted for "arbitrator," and that arbiter shall be deemed to be a single arbiter within the meaning of the Lands Clauses Acts, and in lieu of the provisions of the Arbitration Act, 1889, the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts with respect to an arbitration shall apply, except the provisions of the said Acts as to the expenses of the arbitration, in lieu of which the following provision shall have effect, namely, the expenses of the arbitration and incident thereto shall be in the discretion of the arbiter, who may direct to and by whom and in what manner those expenses, or any part thereof, shall be paid, and may tax or settle the amount of expenses to be so paid, or any part thereof, and may award expenses to be paid as between agent and client.

(4.) The Lord President of the Court of Session shall be substituted for the Lord Chancellor.

(5.) The money necessary to defray expenditure, not being capital expenditure incurred by a county council in pursuance of this Act, shall be raised by a rate imposed along with but as a separate rate from the rate for maintenance of roads (hereinafter referred to as "the road rate") leviable under the Roads and Bridges (Scotland) Act, 1878, upon lands and heritages within the county, or the district, or the parish, as the case may he. The money necessary to defray expenditure similarly incurred by a town council, or police commissioners, or burgh commissioners, shall be raised by a rate imposed along with but as a separate rate from the police assessment or burgh general assessment, as the case may be. If the expenditure incurred is capital expenditure it shall be raised by borrowing in the manner authorised by the order, the rate chargeable for repayment of capital, including interest and expenses, being the same rate as is liable for maintenance as aforesaid, and it shall not he necessary for the county council to have the consent of the standing joint committee for such borrowing.

(6.) The provisions relating to district councils shall apply to district committees or combinations of parish councils, subject to the following modifications:—

  1. (a) A district committee shall not be entitled to make an application under section two hereof except with the consent of the county council given at a special or statutory meeting of the council, of which one month's special notice, setting forth the purpose of the meeting, shall have been sent to each councillor.
  2. (b.) A resolution to give such consent shall not be passed by the council unless two-thirds of the councillors present and voting at the special meeting concur in the resolution.
  3. (c.) Nothing in this Act shall authorise a district committee to raise money by rate or loan, but any money necessary to defray expenditure, not being capital expenditure incurred by it in pursuance of this Act, shall he raised by the County Council by a rate imposed along with but as a separate rate from the road rate; and any money necessary to defray capital expenditure shall be raised by the County Council by borrowing in the manner authorised by the order, as in Section fifteen hereof mentioned.

(7.) The expression "Clause Acts" shall mean the Lands Clauses Acts, the Railways Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845, the Companies Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845, the Companies Clauses Act, 1863, the Railways Clauses Act, 1863, and the Companies Clauses Act, 1869.

(8.) References to the Local Government Act, 1888, and the Local Government Act, 1894, shall be construed as references to the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, and the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894.

(9.) In order to carry out in Scotland the provisions contained in Sub-section (1) (c) of Section five of this Act, it shall be the duty of the assessor of railways and canals, as regards any parish to which the said Sub-section (1) (c) applies, to enter on his valuation roll either the annual value of the light railway within such parish ascertained in terms of the Valuation of Lands (Scotland) Acts, or the annual value at which the land occupied by or for the purposes of the light railway would have been assessed if it had remained in the condition in which it was immediately before it was acquired for the purposes of the railway, whichever is less.

(10.) Where a light railway constructed under the powers of this Act is owned or leased by an existing railway company, such light railway shall not be valued by the said assessor as part of the general undertaking of the railway company, but shall be valued as a separate undertaking.

THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (LORD BALFOUR)

said this clause was the one which applied the Bill to Scotland. The last two lines of Sub-section (5) were accepted in the House of Commons by inadvertence, and he proposed their deletion. The effect of the lines was to take away the control of the Standing Joint Committee over the borrowing powers which were given to county councils, and that he did not think was an expedient thing to do. He did not think it could be alleged that the Standing Joint Committees in Scotland had been obstructive in these matters, and he knew of no difficulty having occurred through their action. At the same time it was extremely important that the Standing Joint Committee should know what was being done by the different districts in the county and what was the amount of money being borrowed, because that amount, if it became too large, naturally affected the security for the whole debt. He had communicated with the President of the Board of Trade, and he agreed that the two lines should be deleted. He moved to omit the words at the end of Sub-section (5)— and it shall not be necessary for the county council to have the consent of the Standing Joint Committee for such borrowing.

Amendment agreed to.

*THE EARL OF DUDLEY

moved, in Paragraph (b), Sub-section (6), after the word "special," to insert the words "or statutory."

Amendment agreed to.

LORD BALFOUR

said that at the end of Paragraph (c), Subsection (6), by inadvertence, the word "fifteen," which referred to the 15th Section of the Bill, had got in; it should obviously be "sixteen," because it was the 16th Clause which referred to borrowing powers, and not the 15th. He therefore begged to move to delete "fifteen" and to insert "sixteen. "

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 25, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 26,—