COMPANIES BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 1 June 1908)

LORD HAMILTON OF DALZELL

My Lords, this is a very short Bill consisting of a single clause. Its object is to remove certain restrictions upon the 1500 holding of land by colonial companies in this country, to which restrictions those companies are at present liable under the Mortmain Acts. The Statute of Mortmain recallsone's early studies of English history, and I think a great many people would be surprised, as I confess I was, to find that that Statute was still in force. But it is in force, and it is still illegal for any corporate body to hold land in this country unless it has first taken out a licence in Mortmain or unless there is a statutory exemption from the provisions of the Mortmain Acts. Those statutory exemptions are given, in the first place, by the Companies Act of 1862, and, in the case of statutory companies, by a clause which is invariably inserted in the special Act of Parliament under which those companies are formed. Those exemptions are operative in the case of companies registered in this country, but they do not exempt companies registered in any of the British Possessions. In the case of those companies a licence in Mortmain must be taken out from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, at a cost of £70, in the case of every piece of land which it is desired to acquire. That restriction has been found to be very harsh in the case of certain colonial companies, such as insurance and banking companies, carrying on business in this country, and it is thought that it should be removed. What it is proposed by this Bill to do is to place those colonial companies on exactly the same footing in regard to this matter as that upon which British companies now stand I feel sure that this is a proposal which will commend itself to your Lordships, all the more so when I am able to state that there are no similar restrictions in the case of British companies which desire to hold lands in the Colonies. I beg to move.