HL Deb 10 April 1930 vol 77 cc106-10

Read 3a (according to order).

Clause 3:

Schemes for drainage works.

(9) Every scheme made under this section shall so soon as all claims for compensation have been agreed on or determined, and if the Department propose to proceed with it, be laid before both Houses of Parliament forthwith, and unless a Resolution approving the scheme is passed by both Houses of Parliament within the next subsequent twenty-eight days on which both Houses have sat after such scheme is laid before Parliament, the scheme shall be void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of a new scheme.

(10) When a scheme has been laid before Parliament in accordance with the foregoing subsection, and has been approved by both Houses, the Department may decide to proceed with the execution of the works in accordance with the scheme, and if they so decide shall intimate such decision to the persons on whom copies of the scheme shall have been served in pursuance of subsection (4) of this section, and any compensation agreed upon or determined in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this section shall then become due.

EARL DE LA WARR My Lords, I have two drafting Amendments, correcting clerical and printing errors.

Amendments moved— Page 6, line 35, after ("proportions") insert ("as may be fixed in any agreement made by the parties and confirmed by the Department or, failing such agreement,") Page 7, line 3, leave out from ("respects") to ("as") in line 6.—(Earl De La Warr.)

On Question, Amendments agreed to.

EARL DE LA WARR moved, in subsection (9), to leave out "forthwith, and unless a Resolution aproving the scheme is passed by both Houses of Parliament within the next subsequent twenty-eight days on which both Houses have sat after such scheme is laid before Parliament, the scheme," and to insert "and if an Address is presented to His Majesty by either House of Parliament within the next subsequent twenty-eight days on which that House has sat after any such scheme is laid before it praying that the scheme may be annulled it." The noble Earl said: My Lords, this and the following Amendment are designed to restore the condition regarding Resolutions in Parliament in relation to these schemes. On the Committee stage we had a considerable debate on this point, and I do not think it is necessary to weary your Lordships with a recapitulation of the point of view of the Government. Since then, owing, I think, to the acceptance by the Government of considerable additional safeguards in other directions, I understand that the noble Lord who moved an Amendment on this point is now willing to agree to the insertion of the Government's Amendment. I beg to move.

Amendment moved— Page 8, line 1, leave out from ("Parliament") to ("shall") in line 5, and insert the said new words.—(Earl De La Warr.)

LORD FAIRFAX OF CAMERON

My Lords, in reference to this and the following Amendment, we on this side of the House recognise that the Amendment that I moved on the Committee stage, which was then accepted, greatly improved the Bill. I am of opinion that affirmative legislation is far more direct and better law than negative legislation, but we are going to let the point pass on this occasion. I should like to say that my Amendment did not impose greater burdens on Parliamentary time, as the noble Earl claimed, but, even if it did so, I feel that we have some small obligation, at least a moral obligation, to the overburdened and downtrodden taxpayers and landowners of Scotland, who have very great difficulty in these days in making both ends meet. The noble Earl appeared on the Committee stage to be most anxious to revert to the original drafting and to accept the consequences that might result. We have done our utmost to extricate him from his difficulty, but he remains adamant and is unwilling to accept our help. We are going to meet him on this occasion and we make this concession because he was conciliatory to us when we introduced certain Amendments, and helped us. We appreciate this very much and we want to help him. We feel that the Amendments that we inserted improved the Bill, but we shall accept the Amendment that he has moved. I hope that he will remember this and, on some future occasion, will not forget how amenable we have been and will give us credit for it.

VISCOUNT NOVAR

My Lords, I hope that the noble Earl will give us this consideration at an even earlier date, because I assume that he will undertake that the Bill, as amended in this House, shall, so far as the Government can ensure it, pass without further alteration in the other House. That is an important point on which I should like an assurance from the noble Earl. If I do not oppose this Amendment, as your Lordships, and especially the noble Marquess who leads the Opposition, might expect, I explain my erratic course in following my noble friend behind me by the old Scottish proverb: "You claw my back and I will claw yours." The noble Earl has accepted a great many alterations and, since he has removed injustices, I was quite prepared, with the assent of my noble friend, to enter into some compromise with him, as he felt very deeply on this point. Moreover, the noble Earl informed me of a circumstance that I had forgotten—namely, that the whole of this subject, which has nothing whatever to do with drainage, is under review by a Commission. This circumstance afforded me so much satisfaction that I was very well disposed to "treat with the enemy in the gate."

EARL DE LA WARR

I thank the noble Lord very much for giving us this concession. Of course, I cannot commit members of another Party in another place not to alter the Bill, but I think I can assure the noble Viscount that the Government have no intention of altering it.

VISCOUNT NOVAR

That is quite enough for me.

On Question, Amendment agreed to EARL DE LA WARR: My Lords, the next Amendment is in subsection (10).

Amendment moved— Page 8, lines 9 and 10, leave out ("has been approved by both Houses") and insert ("the period within which an Address praying that the scheme may be annulled has expired and no such Address has been presented").—(Earl De La Warr.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

VISCOUNT NOVAR had given Notice to move, 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 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 do not propose to move this Amendment.

EARL DE LA WARR moved, after subsection (12), to insert the following new subsection: () If any lands comprised in an area affected by a scheme shall after the date when the scheme was settled be owned by two or more separate owners or be occupied by two or more separate occupiers, any sum payable by the owner or occupier of such lands under subsection (6) or subsection (12) of this section shall be divided among and payable by the separate owners or occupiers, as the case may be, in proportion to the gross annual value appearing in the valuation roll of the separate parts of such lands owned or occupied by them.

The noble Earl said: My Lords, on the Report stage the noble Viscount, Lord Novar, moved the Amendment that now stands in his name, and the Government undertook to consider it. Accordingly we have put down this Amendment, the reasons for which were given on Report.

Amendment moved— After subsection (12), insert the said new subsection.—(Earl De La Warr.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Bill passed, and returned to the Commons.