10 & 11 GEORGE 5, CHAPTER 75. SECOND SCHEDULE (s. 11). PROVISIONS OF PRINCIPAL ACT REPEALED. In subsection (1) of section one the words "and shall be liable to penal servitude for any term not less than three years and not exceeding seven years.' Subsection (3) of section two. Section 4. " In section seven the words "and liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding one year, or to a fine, or to both imprisonment and a fine." CHAPTER LXXVI. An Act to amend the Corn Production Act 1917, and the Enactments relating to Agricultural Holdings. [23rd December 1920.] BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PART I. AMENDMENT OF THE CORN PRODUCTION ACT 1917. 1. CONTINUANCE OF CORN PRODUCTION ACT 1917.-(1) Subject as hereinafter provided, the provisions of the Act of 1917 (7 & 8 Geo. 5, c. 46) shall continue in force until Parliament otherwise determines : Provided that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, on an Address presented to him by both Houses of Parliament praying that the Act of 1917 shall cease to be in force, by Order in Council to declare that that Act shall cease to be in force on the expiration of the fourth year subsequent to the year in which the Order is made. (2) In the event of an Order in Council being made under this section, the expiration of the provisions of the Act of 1917 by virtue of the Order shall not affect the right to any payments under Part I. of that Act in respect of the wheat and oats of the year on the termination of which those provisions expire or of any previous year, or any rights, privileges, obligations or liabilities acquired, accrued, or incurred under those provisions before the date on which those provisions expire, or any penalty, forfeiture, or punishment incurred in respect of any offence committed under those provisions before that date, or in respect of any statement or representation made in connection with a claim under those provisions, whether the statement, representation, or claim was made before or after that date. 2. AMENDMENT AS TO MINIMUM PRICE AND AVERAGE PRICE.—(1) The minimum prices for the wheat and oats of the year nineteen hundred and twenty-one and any subsequent year shall be such prices for a statutory quarter as correspond to the following minimum prices for the wheat and oats respectively of the year nineteen hundred and nineteen (hereinafter referred to as "the standard year"):68s. per customary quarter of 504 pounds, 46s. 336 Wheat : and the corresponding minimum prices shall be fixed in respect of each year in accordance with the following provisions: (a) The Commissioners to be appointed under this Part of this Act shall, as soon as possible after the completion of the harvest in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-one and each subsequent year, ascertain, after consideration of any information furnished by the Minister, the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, and the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, the percentage by which the cost of production of the wheat and oats respectively of that year is greater or less than the cost of production. of the wheat and oats respectively of the standard year: (b) In ascertaining the variation in the cost of production no account shall be taken of any variation of rent, except any variation that is attributable to a variation in the cost of maintenance: AGRICULTURE ACT 1920. (c) The corresponding minimum prices for the wheat and oats respectively of any year shall be such sums as are certified by the Commissioners to bear to the minimum prices for the wheat and oats respectively of the standard year the same proportion as the cost of production of the wheat and oats respectively of the year for which the prices are to be fixed bears to the cost of production of the wheat and oats respectively of the standard year. (2) Any fraction of a penny in the average price or minimum price per statutory quarter shall be disregarded. (3) The foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect in substitution for the provisions of subsection (1) of section two of the Act of 1917. (4) The expression "statutory quarter" shall be substituted for the expression quarter" wherever that expression occurs in the Act of 1917. 3. APPOINTMENT, REMUNERATION, AND POWERS OF COMMISSIONERS.-(1) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, there shall be three Commissioners, one of whom shall be appointed by the Minister, and the Board of Agriculture for Scotland jointly, one by the Treasury and one by the Board of Trade. (2) There shall be paid to the Commissioners such remuneration as the Treasury may determine, and any such remuneration and the expenses of the Commissioners, up to an amount sanctioned by the Treasury, shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament. (3) The Commissioners may, subject to any directions given by the Treasury, pay to any person requested by them to furnish particulars with respect to the subjectmatter of their inquiry or to attend before them such reasonable expenses as such person shall incur in respect thereof. (4) The Commissioners shall not, except with the consent of the person concerned, include in any report or publication made or authorised by them any information obtained by them in the course of an inquiry made by them under this section as to the business carried on by any person which is not available otherwise than through evidence given to them during the inquiry, nor shall any Commissioner or any person concerned in the inquiry, except with such consent as aforesaid, disclose any such information. 4. POWER TO ENFORCE PROPER CULTIVATION.-(1) The Minister, if in any case he is of opinion after consultation with the agricultural committee (if any) for the area in which the land is situate (a) that any arable or grass land not being a park, garden, or pleasure ground or land adjoining a mansion house or garden attached thereto and required for their protection or amenity or woodland or land cultivated for osiers, is not being cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry; or (b) that the production of food on any such land as aforesaid can, in the national interest and without injuriously affecting the persons interested in the land or altering the general character of the holding, be maintained or increased by the occupier by means of an improvement in the existing method of cultivation; or (c) that the occupier of such land as aforesaid has unreasonably neglected to execute thereon the necessary works of maintenance being, in the case of land occupied by a tenant, works which he is liable to execute under the conditions of his tenancy or rendered necessary by his act or default; or (d) that the owner of such land as aforesaid in the occupation of a tenant has unreasonably neglected to execute thereon the necessary works of maintenance, not being works to which the preceding paragraph applies; may serve notice, in the case of neglect to execute the necessary works of maintenance, on the tenant or owner, as the case may be, requiring him to execute the necessary works specified in the notice within such time as may be so specified, and in any other case on the occupier of the land requiring him to cultivate the land in accordance with such directions as the Minister may give for securing that the cultivation shall be in accordance with the rules of good husbandry or for securing the necessary improvement in the existing method of cultivation, so however as not to interfere with the discretion of the occupier as to the crops to be grown and the Minister may, in the same or any subsequent notice so served, provide for securing to the 10 & 11 GEORGE 5, CHAPTER 76. landlord such payments or other benefits (if any) as the Minister thinks just on account of any profit or benefit derived or expected to be derived by the tenant by reason of the execution by the owner of any works of maintenance, and any such provision of the notice shall have effect as if it was contained in the contract of tenancy : Provided that, if any person on whom any notice is served under this section is aggrieved by the notice, he may, within the prescribed time, require the question whether the land has been cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry, or whether the production of food on the land can in the national interest be maintained or increased by the occupier by means of the required improvement in the existing method of cultivation, or whether such improvement will injuriously affect the persons interested in the land, or alter the general character of the holding, or whether the works required to be executed are necessary works of maintenance, or whether the time specified in the notice for the execution of such works is reasonable, to be referred to arbitration in accordance with Part IV. of the Act of 1917, and, where any question is so referred to arbitration, no action shall be taken for enforcing the directions given by the Minister until the determination of the reference or except in accordance with the terms of the award, and, where the person on whom any notice is served is a tenant, the landlord shall have the same right as the tenant of requiring any question to be referred to arbitration. (2) Where any notice is served on a tenant, a copy of the notice shall, at the same time, be served on the landlord. (3) No action shall be taken by the Minister or by the agricultural committee (if any) under subsection (1) of this section unless a full report in writing signed on behalf of the Minister or of the committee, setting out in detail the matters complained of and the improvements or works required, has been served upon the owner and occupier. (4) Where a notice has been served under this section on the owner or occupier of any land requiring him within a time specified in the notice to execute some work and that person unreasonably fails to comply with the requirements of the notice, he shall be liable, on summary conviction in respect of each offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds and to a further fine not exceeding twenty shillings for every day during which the default continues after conviction: Provided that (a) proceedings for an offence under this subsection shall not be instituted except by the Minister; and (b) the Minister shall be entitled to execute any work specified in the notice, and to recover summarily as a civil debt from the person in default the reasonable cost of executing such work in a proper and workmanlike manner, and the right to institute any such proceedings shall not be prejudiced by the fact that the Minister has executed the work specified in the notice. (5) Where a notice has been served on the owner of any land in the occupation of a tenant requiring him within a time specified in the notice to execute necessary works of maintenance and the owner fails to comply with the requirements of the notice, the Minister may authorise the tenant to execute the works in a proper and workmanlike manner, and a tenant so authorised shall be entitled to execute the works accordingly, and at any time after the works have been executed to recover from the owner the costs reasonably incurred by him in so doing, in the same manner in all respects as if those costs were compensation awarded in respect of an improvement under the Act of 1908. (6) A notice under this section shall not require any work to be executed within a period of less than one month from the date of the notice, unless in the opinion of the Minister it is necessary that the work should be executed within some shorter period specified in the notice. (7) Where the Minister is of opinion, after consultation with the agricultural committee, that the owner of any agricultural estate situate wholly or partly in the area of the committee, whether the estate or any part thereof is or is not in the occupation of tenants, grossly mismanages the estate to such an extent as to prejudice AGRICULTURE ACT 1920. materially the production of food thereon or the welfare of those who are engaged in the cultivation of the estate, the Minister may, if he thinks it necessary or desirable so to do in the national interest, and after holding such public inquiry as he thinks proper and after taking into consideration any representations made to him by the owner, by order appoint such person as he thinks fit to act as receiver and manager of the estate or any part thereof: Provided that (a) an order made under this subsection shall not, except where the person appointed by the order to act as receiver and manager of the estate is appointed to act in the place of a person previously appointed under this subsection, take effect until a period of six months has elapsed after the date on which notice of the order having been made was given to the owner of the estate, and the owner may, at any time during the said period, appeal against the order to the High Court in accordance with rules of court, and, where any such appeal is made, the order shall not take effect pending the determination of the appeal; and (b) an order made under this subsection shall not, except with the consent of (c) an order made under this subsection shall not operate to deprive any (e) the powers conferred by this subsection shall be in addition to and not The Minister may, by an order made under this provision, apply for the purposes of the order, with such modifications as he thinks fit, any of the provisions of section twenty-four of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 41), which relates to the powers, remuneration, and duties of receivers appointed by mortgagees, and authorise the receiver and manager to exercise such other powers vested in the owner of the estate as may be specified in the order and may be reasonably necessary for the proper discharge by him of his duties as receiver and manager: Provided that the receiver and manager shall not have power to sell or create any charge upon the estate or any part thereof or to cut or sell timber or underwood thereon, except with the consent of the owner or with the approval of the High Court obtained upon an application made for the purpose in accordance with rules of court. The owner of any estate in respect of which an order has been made under this subsection may, at any time after the expiration of three years from the date of the order, or after any change in the ownership of the estate, apply to the Minister to have the order appointing the receiver and manager revoked, and, if on any such application the Minister refuses to revoke the order, the owner may appeal against the refusal to the High Court, in accordance with rules of court. The Minister shall, on the application of a purchaser of any land subject to the provisions of an order made under this subsection, revoke the order so far as it affects that land. (8) If within one month after the Minister has, in pursuance of this section, appointed a receiver and manager in respect of any land the owner of the land so requires, a record of the condition of the buildings, fences, gates, roads, drains, ditches, and cultivation of the land shall be made within three months after the date of requisition by a person to be appointed, in default of agreement, by the 10 & 11 GEORGE 5, CHAPTER 76. President of the Surveyors' Institution; and in default of agreement the cost of making such record shall be borne by the Minister and the owner in equal portions. (9) For the purposes of this section, the expression "necessary works of maintenance" means such of the following works as are necessary for the proper cultivation and working of the land on which they are to be executed and are capable of being executed without prohibitive or unreasonable expense (that is to say): (a) The maintenance and clearing of drains, embankments, and ditches; (b) The maintenance and proper repair of fences, stone walls, gates, and hedges; (c) The execution of repairs to buildings: Provided that a notice under subsection (1) of this section requiring any person to maintain or clear any drains, embankments, or ditches shall not operate so as to impose on that person any obligation in that behalf if and so far as the execution of the works required is rendered impossible by reason of the subsidence of any land or the blocking of outfalls which are not under the control of that person. (10) Where the Minister is satisfied that there are injurious weeds to which this subsection applies growing upon any land, he may serve upon the occupier of the land a notice in writing requiring him to cut down or destroy the weeds in the manner and within the time specified in the notice, and, where the occupier unreasonably fails to comply with the requirements of the notice, the provisions of subsection (4) of this section shall have effect. The expression "occupier" in this subsection means, in the case of any public road, the authority by whom the road is being maintained, and, in the case of unoccupied land, the person entitled to the occupation thereof. Regulations may be made under this Act for prescribing the injurious weeds to which this subsection is to apply. (11) The foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect in substitution for section nine of the Act of 1917. (12) In this section the expression or other limited estate. owner "includes a person entitled for his life 5. ARBITRATIONS UNDER THE CORN PRODUCTION ACT 1917.—(1) If in any arbitration under Part IV. of the Act of 1917 the arbitrator states a case for the opinion of the county court on any question of law, the opinion of the court on any question so stated shall be final unless within the time and in accordance with the conditions prescribed by rules of the Supreme Court either party appeals to the Court of Appeal, from whose decision no appeal shall lie, except with leave of that Court. (2) The arbitration Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 49) shall not apply to any arbitration under Part IV. of the Act of 1917. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF WAGES COMMITTEES IN WALES.-Subsection (1) of section five of the Act of 1917 shall not apply to Wales, and in lieu thereof the provisions contained in the Second Schedule of the Act of 1917 shall, subject as hereinafter provided, apply with respect to Wales as they apply with respect to Scotland, with the substitution of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries for the Board of Agriculture for Scotland: Provided that— 1) The provisions of the said schedule with respect to combinations of districts, and paragraph (4) of the said schedule shall not apply, and there shall be constituted in accordance with a scheme to be framed by the Minister a central agricultural wages committee for Wales (in this section referred to as "the central committee ") consisting of a chairman appointed by the Minister, and of two representatives of each district wages committee (one of whom shall represent employers, and the other of whom shall represent workmen) to be elected by the district committee, and of two women to be appointed by the Minister; and (2) The Minister shall appoint a person to act as secretary to the central committee; and (3) The powers of the Agricultural Wages Board established under the Act of 1917 shall continue to be exercisable until such time as the central committee is duly constituted under this section; and (4) Any rate of wages fixed, or order made by the Agricultural Wages Board |