§ The LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord Elwyn-Jones)My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now resolve itself into Committee on Recommitment on this Bill.
§ Moved, that the House do now resolve itself into Committee on Recommitment.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [The Baroness TWEEDSMUIR of BELHELVIE in the Chair.]
§ Clauses 1 to 10 agreed to.
§ Clause 11 [Schemes for reorganisation of internal drainage districts and for conferring functions on water authority]:
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 1:
Page 11, line 39, leave out ("provision") and insert ("provisions").
§ The noble and learned Lord said: It may be convenient to discuss Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 3 together as they all relate to the same purpose; namely, to amend certain verbal errors in this consolidation Bill, substituting the plural for the singular in appropriate places. I beg to move.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 2:
Page 12, line 31, leave out ("modification") and insert ("modifications").
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 11, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 12 agreed to.
§ Clause 13 [Orders for transfer to internal drainage board of functions conferred or transferred under section 11 or 12]:
155
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 3:
Page 13, line 8, leave out ("liability") and insert ("liabilities").
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 13, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clauses 14 and 15 agreed to.
§ Clause 16 [Exercise by water authority of functions in default]:
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 4:
Page 16, line 7, leave out from ("area") to ("direct") in line 8.
§
The noble and learned Lord said: It may be convenient to discuss with this Amendment, Amendment No. 7. Amendment No. 4 would leave out from Clause 16(5) of the Bill the words:
or on the application of the Common Council, if any part of the City is within that area".
The reason for this Amendment is that no part of the City is, or in practice ever would be, within a water authority area. That, happily, does not mean the City is without water—not yet anyway. I beg to move.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 16, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clauses 17 to 31 agreed to.
§ Clause 32 [Power of water authorities to provide flood warning systems]:
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 5:
Page 32, line 38, after ("sea") insert ("as").
§ The noble and learned Lord said: This Amendment of the definition of "inland water" in Clause 32(5) merely corrects a verbal error.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 32, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clause 33 agreed to.
§ Clause 34 [Byelaws]:
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 6:
Page 33, line 42, leave out ("damages") and insert ("damage").
§ The noble and learned Lord said: This is an Amendment, this time, to substitute the singular for the plural.
156§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 34, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clauses 35 to 49 agreed to.
§ Clause 50 [Special drainage charges in interests of agriculture]:
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 7:
Page 46, line 20, leave out paragraph (b).
§ The noble and learned Lord said: This Amendment was discussed along with Amendment No. 4, and would eliminate a misconceived reference to the Common Council and the City. I beg to move.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 50, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining clauses agreed to.
§ Schedule 1 [Members and proceedings of regional and local land drainage committees]:
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved Amendment No. 8:
Page 96, line 7, after ("district") insert ("auditor").
§ The noble and learned Lord said: Page 96, line 7, should have referred to the district auditor. Unfortunately the "auditor" is left out; I now put him in. I beg to move.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Schedule 1, as amended, agreed to.
§ Schedules 2 to 5 agreed to.
§ Schedule 6 [Transitional Provisions]:
§
The LORD CHANCELLOR had given Notice of his intention to move Amendment No. 9 in the following form:
Page 113, line 5, at end insert:
§ "Local land charges
§ . If on the coming into force of this Act the Local Land Charges Act 1975 has not come into force, then—
- (a) the repeal by this Act of the entry relating to the Land Drainage Act 1961 in Schedule 1 to the said Act of 1975 shall not have effect until immediately after the coming into force of the said Act of 1975;
- (b) until the coming into force of the said Act of 1975 the following subsection (" the transitional subsection ") shall have effect in substitution for subsection (4) of
157 section 31 of this Act ("the permanent subsection"):— - "(4) Any such scheme shall be registered in the register of local land charges by the proper officer of the district council or, in Greater London, in accordance with section 79 of the London Government Act 1963, in such manner as may be prescribed by rules made under section 15 of the Local Land Charges Act 1925.";
- (c) upon the coming into force of the said Act of 1975 the entry referred to in paragraph (a) above shall operate in relation to this Act (so that the permanent subsection shall then have effect and the transitional subsection shall then cease to have effect)."
§ The noble and learned Lord said: This Amendment would insert a new transitional provision in the Bill to deal with the possibility that this Bill, when it becomes an Act, will come into force before the Local Land Charges Act 1975. This possibility needs to be covered because Clause 31(4) of the Bill consolidates an amendment to the Land Drainage Act 1961 contained in Schedule 1 to the Local Land Charges Act 1975, and that Act is not yet in force. When the Land Drainage Bill was introduced it was expected that the Local Land Charges Act 1975 would have been in force for some months before the Land Drainage Act came into force, but there is now a possibility that the Land Drainage Act will come into force shortly before the Local Land Charges Act. That makes necessary this Amendment.
§ Unhappily—and I apologise for this multiplicity of minor errors in this Consolidation Bill—the word "Local" has by some misfortune crept into the last line but one of the new paragraph (b) of the Amendment, and accordingly I move this Amendment without the word "Local" where it unfortunately has wrongly appeared on the Amendment. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 113, line 5, at end insert:
§ "Local land charges
§ . If on the coming into force of this Act the Local Land Charges Act 1975 has not come into force, then—
- (a) the repeal by this Act of the entry relating to the Land Drainage Act 1961 in Schedule I to the said Act of 1975 shall not have effect until immediately after the coming into force of the said Act of 1975;
- (b) until the coming into force of the said Act of 1975 the following subsection ("the transitional subsection") shall have effect in substitution for subsection (4) of section 31 of this Act ("the permanent subsection"):—
- "(4) Any such scheme shall be registered in the register of local land charges by the proper officer of the district council or, in Greater London, in accordance with section 79 of the London Government Act 1963, in such manner as may be prescribed by rules made under section 15 of the Land Charges Act 1925.";
- (c) upon the coming into force of the said Act of 1975 the entry referred to in paragraph (a) above shall operate in relation to this Act (so that the permanent subsection shall then have effect and the transitional subsection shall then cease to have effect."—(The Lord chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Schedule 6, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining Schedules agreed to.
§ House resumed: Bill reported with the Amendments.