Provision is made for the local authority of every burgh making additional bye-laws with respect to houses for occupation by the working classes. The bye-laws, which in part may apply to existing houses, may deal among other things with building density, the height of a building, the number of occupiers of each house, and sanitary conveniences.

It is the duty of every local authority in districts other than burghs to make, for the whole or any part of their district, byelaws under section 181 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897. Where the local authority is a district committee, the bye-laws do not now require to be approved by the county council.

Where such bye-laws relate to houses or buildings intended for human habitation, the following matters may be included:-the approval of plans and sites, and inspection before occupancy of houses; building density; height of building; the provision of open spaces and suitable access and lighting and ventilation; the structure of floors; sanitary conveniences and other accommodation, and protection against risk of fire.

It is provided that it shall not be lawful for any person without the consent of the local authority to erect any house intended for human habitation with less accommodation than three apartments, "and a local authority shall not give such "consent save in exceptional circumstances, nor shall a local "authority or Dean of Guild Court, save in such circumstances, "approve of the plans for the erection of such a house." The local authority also of every district other than a burgh are required to make bye-laws regulating the occupancy of houses for the working classes, and prescribing in accordance with a cubic space standard the number of adult persons and children who may occupy such houses.

Provisions are also included in the Act dealing with accommodation for seasonal workers, and a local authority for a burgh may apply to the Board for an order declaring that the provisions of the Glasgow Corporation Order, 1918, relating to farmed-out houses shall apply to the burgh.

Any person who wilfully or by culpable negligence damages or suffers to be damaged any house provided for the working classes under the Housing Acts, or any of the fittings or appurtenances, is liable to a penalty.

There are many other minor provisions in the Act as well as amendments of the Housing Acts and the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. Under the latter Act the amount which can now be advanced by a local authority for the purchase of

small houses is 85 per cent. of the market value of the ownership, and the value of the house on which the advance may be made. is extended to £800. Taken altogether, the measure is a fairly comprehensive one, and gives effect to a number of the recommendations urged by the Housing Commission. It essentially secures, as already mentioned, that there shall be a duty upon all local authorities to see to it that at all times there is adequate housing accommodation in their district for the working classes, and it seeks to raise appreciably the whole standard of housing in Scotland for the future.

The Housing (Additional Powers) Act, 1919, a supplementary measure designed to meet the deficiencies disclosed by a few months' practical experience of the Act passed earlier in the year, received the Royal Assent so recently as 23rd December, 1919. Its leading sections had for their object the encouragement of private enterprise in the building of dwelling-houses, by means of the payment of subsidies (expected to range from £130 to £160 per house), while the Act also contains provisions for regulating the erection of buildings other than dwellinghouses, and for preventing the demolition of dwelling-houses or their conversion to other purposes.

ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR HOUSING

AND TOWN PLANNING.

THIS question has received fresh prominence and interest as a result of the passing of the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919. The subject is of special importance at the present time in view of the numerous extensive housing schemes which are being formulated by local authorities throughout the country, involving the acquisition of land for this purpose on an unprecedented scale; and while it is not proposed, in view of the standard works already published on land acquisition (e.g., Hudson on Compensation; Cripps on Compensation), to deal with the question in any comprehensive manner, it will, it is believed, be found. to be useful and instructive to state shortly what led up to the recent legislation (i.e., the Reports of the "Leslie Scott Committee "-reports of historical value which have evoked very great public interest), and what the more important features of that legislation are.

In the first place, however, it will be of advantage to refer shortly to the powers available to local authorities for the acquisition of land for housing purposes prior to the passing of the Acquisition of Land Act.

The erection by local authorities of houses for the working classes was authorised by Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. That Act authorised local authorities to acquire land for the purposes of Part III. of the Act, but only by agreement, in like manner as if these purposes were purposes of the Public Health (Scotland) Acts. Part III. of the 1890 Act was adoptive merely, but the Housing, Town Planning, &c., Act, 1909, provided that Part III. of the 1890 Act was to take effect throughout Scotland without any process of adoption. The Act of 1909 also empowered local authorities to acquire land compulsorily for the purposes of Part III. by a fairly short and simple procedure, and it is of more than passing interest to note what that excellent form of procedure was. It is set out in the first schedule of the 1909 Act, and its principal provisions, as applied to Scotland, are these:

(1) Where a local authority propose to purchase land compulsorily under the Act, they may submit to the Board

an order putting in force, as respects the land specified in the order, the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts with respect to the purchase and taking of land otherwise than by agreement.

(2) An order under the schedule shall be of no force unless and until it is confirmed by the Board, who may confirm the order either without modification or subject to such modifications as they think fit, and an order when so confirmed shall, save as otherwise expressly provided, become final, and have effect as if enacted in the Act.

(3) In determining the amount of any disputed compensation under any such order, no additional allowance shall be made on account of the purchase being compulsory.

(4) The order shall be in the prescribed form, and shall con

tain such provisions as the Board may prescribe for the purpose of carrying the order into effect, and of protecting the local authority and the persons interested in the land, and shall incorporate, subject to the necessary adaptations, the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts relative to arbitrations, but subject to this modification: any question of disputed compensation shall be determined by a single arbiter appointed by the Board. (5) The order shall be published by the local authority, and notice given both in the locality in which the land proposed to be acquired is situated, and to the owners, lessees, and occupiers of the land.

(6) If within the prescribed period no objection to the order has been presented to the Board by a person interested in the land, the Board shall, without further inquiry, confirm the order, but, in cases where there are objections, the Board shall forthwith cause a public inquiry to be held in the locality in which the land proposed to be acquired is situated, and the local authority and all persons interested in the land, and such other persons as the person holding the inquiry in his discretion thinks fit to allow, shall be permitted to appear and be heard at the inquiry.

(7) Where the land proposed to be acquired under the order consists of or comprises land situate in a burgh, provisions are made for the appointment of an impartial person, not in the employment of any Government

department, to hold the inquiry as to whether the land proposed to be acquired is suitable for the purposes for which it is sought to be acquired, and whether, having regard to the extent or situation of the land and the purposes for which it is used, the land can be acquired without undue detriment to the persons interested therein or the owners of adjoining land, and for the confirmation in Parliament of the order in certain events.

Where no part of the land is so situated as aforesaid, before confirming the order, the Board shall consider the report of the person who held the inquiry and all objections made thereat.

Note.-Paragraph (7) has now been repealed by the Fourth Schedule of the Housing, Town Planning, &c. (Scotland) Act, 1919, so that the procedure is now the same whether the land is situated in a burgh or a rural area: the latter part of the section providing that the Board is to consider the report of the person holding the inquiry under section (6) of the Schedule is however re-enacted in section 10 of subsection 1 of the Act of 1919.

(8) The arbiter shall, so far as practicable, in assessing compensation, act on his own knowledge and experience, but the person holding the inquiry or arbitration shall hear by themselves, or their agents, any authorities or parties authorised to appear, and shall hear witnesses, but shall not, except in such cases as the Board otherwise direct, hear counsel or expert witnesses.

(9) The Board may, with the concurrence of the Lord Advocate, make rules fixing a scale of costs to be applicable on the arbitration, and the arbiter may, notwithstanding anything in the Lands Clauses Acts, determine the amount of costs, and shall have power to disallow the costs of any witness whom he considers to have been called unnecessarily and any other costs which he considers to have been caused or incurred unnecessarily.

It will also be of interest to refer briefly to the provisions contained in the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, Parts I. and II., so far as relating to the compulsory acquisition of land and buildings.

Part I. of the Act deals with unhealthy areas. It applies to burghs only, but by Section 28 of the Housing, Town Planning, &c., Act, 1919, it may now be applied to districts other

D