HL Deb 15 August 1911 vol 9 cc1116-8

(1) The use of the premises as a place of worship and for purposes connected therewith shall be deemed to be the undertaking or the railway and the trustees shall be deemed to be the promoters of the undertaking or the railway company.

(2) Section one hundred and twenty-three of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, limiting the time for compulsory purchase shall not apply.

(3) If the trustees desire to sell the premises or any part thereof, or if they let or habitually use or permit to be used the premises or any part thereof for any purpose other than that of a place of worship or purposes connected therewith, sections one hundred and twenty-seven to one hundred and thirty-two of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, shall apply as if the premises or part thereof were superfluous lands within the meaning of those sections, and as if in section one hundred and twenty-eight of that Act the words "unless such lands be situate" within a town or be lands built upon or used "for building purposes" were omitted.

(4) The arbitrator shall, so far as practicable, in assessing compensation, act on his own knowledge and experience, but, subject as aforesaid, at any arbitration held under this Act the arbitrator shall hear, by themselves or their agents, the parties, and shall hear witnesses, but shall not, except in such cases as the arbitrator may otherwise direct, hear counsel or more than one expert witness on either side.

(5) The Lord Chancellor may make rules fixing a scale of costs to be applicable on an arbitration under this Act, and an arbitrator ender this Act may, notwithstanding anything in the Lands Clauses Acts, determine the amount of costs, and shall have power to disallow as costs in the arbitration the costs of any witness whom he considers to have been called unnecessarily, and any other costs which he considers to have been caused or incurred unnecessarily, and, if he thinks the circumstances such as to justify him in so doing, to order that each of the parties shall bear their own costs.

(6) There may be contained in the award of the arbitrator a finding that the claimant, after having been requested in writing by the trustees so to do, has failed to deliver to the trustees a statement in writing of the amount claimed, giving sufficient particulars and in sufficient time to enable the trustees to make a proper offer, and, where such a finding is contained in the award, the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts as to costs of arbitrations shall apply as if the trustees had offered the same sum or a greater sum than that found to be due by the award:

Provided that this provision shall not apply unless the written request for particulars contained a notice of the effect of this provision.

(7) Land includes easements in or relating to land.

EARL BEAUCHAMP

I move to amend Clause (3) of the Schedule by omitting the words "sections one hundred and twenty-seven "and inserting" sections one hundred and twenty-eight."

Amendment moved— In the Schedule, line 15, leave out "twenty-seven" and insert "twenty-eight."—(Earl Beauchamp.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN

I move, on behalf of Lord Dunmore, to add at the end of Clause (3) of the Schedule the words standing on the Paper.

Amendment moved— Page 4, line 20, after ("omitted") insert ("and as if the words who was entitled to the freehold reversion in the lands at the time the interest of the trustees in the lands was enlarged into a fee simple or the successor in title (if any) of such person, and' were substituted for the words then entitled to the lands (if any) from which the same were originally severed; or"').—(The Earl of Camperdown.)

EARL BEAUCHAMP

I am quite willing to agree to this Amendment, which was postponed from the Committee stage.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

I would suggest that before the next stage this Amendment should be put into a clearer form. I am not saving a word against the substance of it, but it is very disturbing to constantly have these pieces of legislation which say that something shall be considered as if something else had been different from what it is.

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN

I entirely agree with the noble and learned Earl on the Woolsack. No one dislikes these unintelligible Amendments more than I do, and I wish to say that I am not responsible for the wording although I moved the Amendment.

EARL BEAUCHAMP

Neither am I responsible. The wording is that of the noble Earl (Lord Dunmore) in whose name the Amendment stands.

VISCOUNT ST. ALDWYN

Could not the noble Earl in charge of the Bill undertake to put the Amendment into proper form and insert it on the Third Reading?

EARL BEAUCHAMP

I will consider the matter and consult with Lord Dunmore. I do not think it would be fair to alter the form without consulting him. As I said, we have no objection to the principle of the Amendment, whatever objection there may be to the exact terms in which it is set out.

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Bill to be read 3a on Thursday next, and to be printed as amended. (No. 178.)