§ [NOTE.—The References, are to Bill (132).]
§ Clause 1, page 1, line 6, leave out ("seven") and insert ("eight")
§ Clause 1, page 1, line 8, at end insert ("and of whom not less than two shall have special knowledge and experience of plantation and forestry in Scotland, and one at least a person having scientific attainments and a technical knowledge of forestry")
§ Clause 1, page 1, line 15, leave out ("paid")
§ Clause 1, page 1, line 15, leave out from ("years") to end of subsection (3).
§ Clause 1, page 1, line 23, at end insert the following new subsection:
§ "(6) One of the unpaid Commissioners shall bea member of the Commons House of Parliament."
§ Clause 3, page 3, line 18, at the beginning insert ("subject to any directions which may be given by the Treasury")
§ Clause 3, page 4, line 11, leave out ("and")
§ Clause 3, page 3, line 11, after ("preparation") insert ("publication and distribution")
§ Clause 3, page 3, line 42, at end insert:
§ ("Provided also that before acquiring any land under this Act and before selling or otherwise disposing of any land so acquired, but not required by them for the purposes of this Act, the Commissioners shall consult the appropriate agricultural department, and in the case of land proposed to be sold or disposed of, shall give that department an opportunity of acquiring the same. The appropriate agricultural department shall be in England and Wales the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, in Scotland the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, and in Ireland the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland")
§ Clause 3, page 5, line 1, at the beginning insert:
§ (" (4) An advance shall not after the commencement of this Act be made under subsection (1) of section one of the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909, for the purposes of forestry, unless before that date the Development Commissioners have made and the Treasury have approved a recommendation for the advance").
§ Clause 6, page 6, fine 20, leave out ("as far as practicable")
§ Clause 6, page 6, line 21, at end insert:
§ ("A representative, in the case of the English Committee and the Welsh Committee, respectively, of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, in the case of the Scottish Committee, of the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, and in the case of the Irish Committee, of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland").
§ Clause 6, page 6, line 27, leave out ("any").
§ Clause 7, page 7, line 28, at end insert:
§ ("(4) Where the Commissioners are of opinion that insufficient facilities exist for the haulage of timber from any wood or forest to a road, railway, 861 or waterway, they may make an order that the owner and occupier of any land shall afford the necessary facilities, subject to payment by the person in whose favour the order is made of reasonable rent or wayleave and of compensation for any damage caused by such haulage, and the owner of such land shall thereupon afford such facilities; and the amount of rent or wayleave and compensation shall, in default of agreement, be assessed by a single arbitrator appointed by the President of the Surveyors' Institution. Provided that the Commissioners shall not make any order under this subsection until the person proposed to be required to give such facilities as aforesaid has had an opportunity of being heard and any person aggrieved by an order made under this subsection may appeal therefrom to the Development Commissioners in such manner and upon such conditions, if any, as may be prescribed by them, and the Development Commissioners may thereupon revoke or vary any such order").
§ Clause 8, line 34, at end insert:
§ ("(a) during the ten years immediately succeeding the first day of April, nineteen hundred and nineteen, the sum of three million five hundred thousand pounds in such annual amounts as Parliament may from time to time determine; and (b)").
§ In the Schedule, page 10, line 11, after ("Acts") insert ("except such of those provisions as relate to the sale of superfluous land'')
§ In the Schedule, page 10, line 14, leave out from ("accordingly") to the end of line 40.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDMy Lords, may I say generally that this Bill has come back substantially in the position in which your Lordships amended it. A number of Amendments—eight or ten—have been made which I have gone through very carefully. I shall recommend the House to accept them all with two exceptions, where I shall ask your Lordships to amend the Commons Amendment. The first Amendment in Clause 1, page 1, line 6, enlarges the number of Commissioners from seven to eight. There is a subsequent Amendment that one of those Commissioner's shall be a Member of the Commons House of Parliament. The number in the House of Commons accordingly is enlarged.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe second Amendment in Clause 1, line 8, contains a redundancy which I think should be removed. It reads that "not less than two shall have special knowledge and experience of plantation and forestry in Scotland." I think that there may have been some misapprehension about 862 those words. I do not know who can be said to have experience of plantation in Scotland who has not experience of forestry in Scotland; and as these words might cause misunderstanding later on, I think that we should do well to limit ourselves to special knowledge and experience of forestry in Scotland. I think that seems to cover the point, and I therefore move in the second line of the Commons Amendment that the words "plantation and" be omitted.
§
Amendment moved to the Commons Amendment—
Clause 1, line 8, after ("experience of") leave out ("plantation and").—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Amendment to the Commons Amendment agreed to.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons Amendment as amended.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe Amendment on line 15 to leave out "paid," and in the same line to leave out "from years" to the end of subsection (3), is purely a verbal matter. It is merely taking out redundant words.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe Amendment in line 23, to insert a new subsection in Clause 1, follows the precedent laid down by unpaid Charity Commissioners and Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and it is suggested that one of the unpaid Commissioners should be a member of the Commons House of Parliament. I am prepared to recommend your Lordships to agree to that.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe Amendment in Clause 3, line 18, to insert at the beginning "subject to any directions which may be given to the Treasury," is one which I think should be agreed to, and I so move.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThere are two Commons Amendments on line 11 of Clause 3, first to leave out "and," and second, after "preparation," to insert "publication and distribution." My impression is that your Lordships suggested this in Committee stage, and I refused it. I see that the House of Commons have put it in, and I must therefore bow to that decision.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe next Amendment in Clause 3 is to insert, at the end of line 42, a new paragraph providing for consultation with the Board of Agriculture, whether of Scotland, England, or Ireland, where there is a question of dealing with the land. I think that is a useful safeguard, and I move that the House do agree with the Amendment.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe Amendment on page 5, line 1, to insert a new paragraph (4) at the beginning, is the Amendment as it left your Lordships' House. As it was a money Amendment it was struck out in the House of Commons, and re-inserted, and appears here as an Amendment.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDIn regard to the Commons Amendment in Clause 6, line 20, to leave out "as far as practicable," the original proposal was that the Consultative Committee should, as far as practicable, consist of certain persons. The words "as far as practicable" are now omitted. It makes the formation of these 864 Committees perhaps a little more rigid, but I think no objection can be taken to it, and I ask your Lordships to accept the Amendment.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe Commons Amendment to insert a new paragraph after line 21 (Clause 6) ensures that the rights of the different Departments of Agriculture shall be represented. It seems to me a very good Amendment.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe Commons Amendment on Clause 7, page 7, line 28, to insert a new paragraph (4), is a very useful one. It entitles the Commissioner to grant wayleaves where such are required without all the long and tedious formalities of having to go before the Development Commissioner. I ask your Lordships to accept it with this alteration, that in line 7 of the subsection (4), after "owner," we should insert the words "or occupier." As it stands it is only the owner who is to give facilities for wayleaves, whereas clearly the occupier should be included.
§
Amendment moved to the Commons Amendment—
Clause 7, page 7, in subsection (4) of the Commons Amendment, after ("owner") insert ("or occupier").—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Amendment to the Commons Amendment agreed to.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons Amendment as amended.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
865THE EARL OF CRAWFORDThe proviso inserted by the Commons in the same subsection is think, a safeguard which will meet the point that Lord Dynevor raised in the Committee stage, and I beg to move that we agree with it.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said proviso.—(The (Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion, agreed to.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDIn Clause 8 there is an Amendment which your Lordships accepted at Lord Haldane's instance, but the actual phraseology is modified. The words, for instance, that "the Treasury shall present the Estimates" are excluded, because the Treasury has to present all Estimates. There is no sub-stance in it; it is purely a question of forty, and I beg to move that this House doth agree.
§ Moved, That this House cloth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ In the Schedule:
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDWith regard to the two commons Amendments in the Schedule, these provisions, I am informed, are no longer necessary, as the new Acquisition of Land Bill covers the point. The words in line 11 and in line 14 are, therefore, superfluous.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(The Earl of Crawford.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ Bill returned to the Commons.