§ Amendments reported (according to Order).
§ Clause 1 [Maintenance of banks and cleansing of channels of watercourses]:
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (EARL DE LA WARR)My Lords, this is a purely drafting Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 27, leave out from ("sheriff") to ("direct") in line 29, and insert ("if he thinks fit, may, and on the application of any party, shall").—(Earl De La Warr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
7§ Clause 2:
§ Making of underground main drains.
§ (3) Such warrant shall provide (i) for the payment by the person so authorised of compensation for any damage caused to any other person by reason of the making of the undeground main drains authorised by such warrant, the amount of such compensation, failing agreement, to be determined by the sheriff after such inquiry as aforesaid; and (ii) for the proper maintenance or renewal of the said drains in the future at the expense of the owner for the time being of the said agricultural land.
§ EARL DE LA WARRMy Lords, this is also a drafting Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 43, leave out from ("sheriff") to ("direct") in line 2 on page 4, and insert ("if he thinks fit, may, and on the application of the person through whose land such underground main drains are proposed to be made, shall").—(Earl De La Warr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§
THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE moved, in subsection (3), before "damage," to insert "loss or." The noble Earl said: My Lords, this Amendment is the same as one that I moved in Committee. The noble Earl in charge of the Bill said then that it was a drafting Amendment, and that he was advised that there was really no difference between the words in the Bill and my Amendment, except that my Amendment was slightly longer and in the Government's opinion not quite so well drafted. I have since been advised that this Amendment is really necessary. As the Bill at present stands the words are:—
Such warrant shall provide (i) for the payment by the person so authorised of compensation for any damage.
That wording might be confined to personal damage, and not include financial damage as well. Considerable damage might be done to standing crops, or dykes or fences, and my intention is that the words "loss or" should be inserted in front of the word "damage," so that financial loss would be fully covered. It is better, I think, to have extra words than to run any risk of extra litigation under the clause, and I hope the Government mill accept my Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 4, line 7, after ("any") insert ("loss or").—(The Earl of Lauderdale.)
§ EARL DE LA WARRMy Lords, we are still advised that these words are not really necessary, but if the noble Earl is keen on them we have no objection and will accept them.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 3:
§ Schemes for drainage works.
§
(2) Before executing any works under this section the Department shall prepare a draft scheme specifying—
(d) the estimated cost of maintaining the works proposed to be executed and the manner in which the cost of such maintenance is to be apportioned among the lands comprised in the area;
and shall give to the owners and occupiers of the land comprised in the area, and to any navigation authority or other body or person appearing to the Department or claiming to be affected by the scheme, notice in the prescribed manner of the making of the draft scheme, and of the place where it can be inspected and of the time within which objections to the scheme may be presented to the Department.
§ In estimating the cost of carrying out the scheme for the purposes of this subsection the Department shall take into account the cost of the execution of the works and the compensation, if any, which may be expected to become payable in pursuance of this section.
§ EARL DE LA WARRMy Lords, this again is a drafting Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 4, lines 20 and 21, leave out ("of Agriculture for Scotland").—(Earl De La Warr.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ VISCOUNT NOVAR moved, in paragraph (d) of subsection (2), after "executed," to insert "the amount to be recoverable by the Department in respect of such cost." The noble Viscount said: My Lords, in moving my first Amendment, it may save your Lordships' time if I put the case for the landowner on this matter of his liabilities for "maintenance." There was no definite provision in the original Bill for the Department paying anything towards the costs of maintenance. It may be assumed, therefore, that it was never intended that the Department should contribute to those costs. After debate, the Government has put down Amendments on this intricate point. I seek the definite pledge that the De- 9 partment will be responsible for all expenditure on maintenance as on construction in so far as the owner derives no economic benefit therefrom. If the noble Earl accepts that view then I have nothing more to say. I have only further to remind him that while he and I are at one as to the need for main drainage, and while I am driven to the conclusion that the Government must assist in view of the ruin of agriculture and of the landowner, so completely accomplished by the legislation and taxation of every Government, we foresee very different results.
§ The Government has in its mind a waterlogged plain whose fertile soil is to be made to smile and blossom like the rose, at the wave of a wand by an impeccable Socialist Administration. What I feared is a plain where, in the effort to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before, all capital value, and more, had been eaten up by the swarm of locusts which had settled upon it—department and sub-department, surveyor and draughtsman, inspector and sub-inspector, accountant and foreman, with a crowd of lacemakers, wool combers, yarn spinners and dole earners who had never turned a sod in their lives—leaving the grower of corn and potatoes as the man to stand the shot, with not even the original blade of grass to keep the wolf from the door. I recall a scheme, which I turned down, for reclaiming land in the Island of Lewis, submitted by a theoretical official who might well have been trained in the Academy of Laputa. It was to reclaim bog and rock at £30 or more an acre to be let on crofter tenure, so that the owner should become liable for a tenant's failure. Plausible schemes of this sort are so easily devised in the inner recesses of public offices, to fail lamentably when put to the practical test. Therefore I invite the noble Earl to continue his co-operation in amending the Bill as it entered your Lordships' House, so as to leave it in an altered shape free of all trace of injustices.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 4 line 41, after ("executed") insert ("the amount to be recoverable by the Department in respect of such cost").—(Viscount Novar.)
§ EARL DE LA WARRMy Lords, I hope that if I give your Lordships the assurance that we are in agreement with the principle of this Amendment, I 10 shall not be taken as committing myself to full agreement with the noble Viscount's views on impeccable Socialism, and its relation to lace-making and woolcombing. I very gladly, however, give the noble Viscount the assurance of the Government that our Amendments which are put down to cover his points will secure that in no case shall any owner of land be called upon to pay in respect of the carrying out of a scheme and of the cost of maintaining the works more than the estimated value of the benefits accruing to his land from the carrying out of those works. I think that is the assurance that the noble Viscount asked for, and I hope, therefore, that he will not press his Amendments but allow me to move Amendments on behalf of the Government.
§ VISCOUNT NOVARMy Lords, with that assurance I beg leave to withdraw this Amendment, and I shall not move the others which are on the Paper in my name.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ EARL DE LA WARRI beg to move.
§
Amendments moved—
Page 5, line 1, leave out ("the cost of such maintenance") and insert ("such estimated cost")
Page 5, line 19, after the first ("the") inserted ("estimated")
Page 5, line 23, after ("lands") insert ("in respect of the estimated cost of carrying out the scheme and of maintaining the works").
Page 6, line 9, leave out from beginning to ("to")
Page 6, line 10, after ("lands") insert ("in respect of the estimated cost of carrying out the scheme and of maintaining the works")
Page 8, line 29, after ("shall") insert ("in so far as such cost does not exceed the estimated cost of maintenance specified in the scheme").—(Earl De La Warr.)
§ On Question, Amendments agreed to.
§
VISCOUNT NOVAR moved, after subsection (12), to insert the following new subsection:—
() If any lands in respect of which a rate in pursuance of subsection (6) of this section or a sum in respect of the cost of maintenance is recoverable shall after the date when the scheme is settled be divided by sale or feu the rate or sum shall be apportioned among and payable by the owners of the various parts of the lands so divided according to the gross annual value of their respective parts as appearing
11
in the valuation roll, and where any part of such a rate is payable by an occupier and the lands in his occupation have after the said date been divided between two or more occupiers the said part of such rate shall be apportioned among and payable by the occupiers according to the gross annual value as aforesaid.
§ The noble Viscount said: My Lords, I will not labour this point, because I think it has been placed for consideration in the hands of the noble Earl opposite.
§ EARL DE LA WARRYes, quite so.
§ VISCOUNT NOVARIf the noble Earl will undertake to consider it before the Third Reading that will satisfy me, because I have not put the Amendment on the Paper.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 8, line 38, at end insert the said new subsection.—(Viscount Novar.)
§ EARL DE LA WARRYes, we will consider it.
§ VISCOUNT NOVARI beg leave to withdraw.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.