CROWN LANDS BILL (Hansard, 2 February 1943)

§ LORD SNELL

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. This is an agreed measure, and, except for one or two minor criticisms, it was generally welcomed in another place, where it passed through all its stages without alteration. Only the shortest explanation will, therefore, be necessary in order to commend the Bill to your Lordships' House. The purpose of the Bill is to remedy an anomaly by which the Secretary of State for Scotland has at present no responsibility for the administration of Crown Lands in Scotland. The anomaly arises from the fact that when the President of the Board of Agriculture was made a Commissioner in 1906 he then had responsibility for the whole of Great Britain. When a separate Board of Agriculture was established for Scotland in 1911 a change in the arrangements for the administration of Crown lands in Scotland might well have been suggested. The point, however, was not raised, probably because the agricultural land in charge of the Commissioners in Scotland was not very extensive. The recent purchase by the Commissioners of a large part of the Richmond and Gordon estates has changed this situation, and the Government pro-pose that the Secretary of State for Scotland shall become a Commissioner of 862 Crown lands and be the Minister concerned with the administration of Crown lands in Scotland.

As some misunderstanding of the present position appears to exist, I should explain o that although the Minister for Agriculture is one of the two Commissioners of Crown lands, the management of Crown lands is no concern of the Ministry, and is conducted by an entirely separate office. The Commissioners are in the nature of trustees for the hereditary estates of the King, and their duties are more akin to those of trustees under the Settled Lands Acts than those of an ordinary Government Department. The income of the estates after defraying expenses is paid into the Exchequer, but the Commissioners, as trustees, are bound to preserve as far as possible, and if possible augment the capital of the estates entrusted to their charge. The Minister of Agriculture's duties as a Commissioner are therefore entirely distinct from his position as Minister of Agriculture, and he has to keep his two functions separate. If the administration of the Crown lands were in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture it would be difficult for the separate interests of the Crown estates not to be overlooked.

Ever since the beginning it has been generally accepted that money for all public purposes should be voted by Parliament and be subject to Parliamentary control, and that Crown lands should be administered separately from any Government Department. The Crown lands as a whole constitute a trust which should not be affected by political or Party considerations and should not be broken up. If a Minister concerned with agricultural questions is to be a Commissioner of Crown Lands and answer for the Commissioners in Parliament, it is clearly right that for Scotland that Minister should be the Secretary of State. I hope that the Bill will receive the support of your Lordships. This measure also is in the list of those which it is desired to pass through all stages at the next sitting. I beg to move.