§ 2.57 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD POLWARTH)My Lords, this Bill is a re-enactment for Scotland of the Land Compensation Act which received the Royal Assent on May 23. That Act in its present form would not be very convenient to Scottish users, either in private practice or in the public service. This is because of the differences in terminology and legal practice between Scotland and England, and the fact that many of the Statutes to which reference has to be made in the Act are separate for Scotland. As a result, a great many Scottish adaptations were necessary in the Act. A Motion was accepted by your Lordships on May 22, providing, in effect, that the Act should be re-enacted in purely Scottish form by consolidation procedure. This Bill is the consequence of that Motion. Its provisions do not differ in any respect from those of the Land Compensation Act. My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(Lord Polwarth.)
§ LORD HUGHESMy Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Polwarth has said, when the Land Compensation Bill was going through your Lordships' House there was a certain amount of disquiet at the rather unsatisfactory procedure of attaching Scottish sections to that Bill. But the Minister then stated that it was the intention of the Government, if the House was agreeable, to proceed almost immediately with a Land Compensation Bill for Scotland, and I must congratulate the Minister on the speed with which he has carried out that promise. I hope that the Government will accept it as a precedent for future activity, and that they will very much more frequently recognise the error of their ways as speedily as they have done on this occasion.
§ LORD POLWARTHMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his comments, which I will convey to those who have assisted in producing the Bill so speedily.
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.