§ 143. Lieut.-Colonel Mackesonasked the Minister of Health how the responsibility for removing defence works and obstacles from defence areas is allocated between 217W Ministers and Government Departments in respect of removal from privately-owned lands and other lands, respectively.
Mr. A. Greenwood:I have been asked to reply. The responsibility for the removal of temporary defence works, in so far as they are on private land and should be removed in the public interest, rests with the Minister of Works. If the works are on publicly-owned land within the sphere of responsibility of a Government Department direct, or a local authority which is accustomed to working under the general supervision of a Government Department, that Department or local authority would be responsible provided again that the removal of the works or the restoration of the land was to the public interest. The responsibility for making payment under Section 52 of the Requisitioned Land and War Works Act, 1945, where the owner carries out approved works or restoration, would be the same. In other cases, the damage to the land would be dealt with by the requisitioning authority or Department concerned by the payment of compensation, and the parties interested in the land would be free to apply the compensation to making good the damage.