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other land belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice, or to be paid by way of compensation for the damage to be sustained by the owner by reason of severance or other injury affecting any such land, shall not be paid as directed by the Lands Clauses Acts, but shall be paid to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to be applied by them as money paid to them upon a sale, under the provisions of the Ecclesiastical Leasing Acts, of land belonging to a benefice.

[3] This Order shall come into operation as from the date of its confirmation by the Minister of Health.

THE SCHEDULE above referred to.

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Given under the Official Seal of the Minister of Health, this Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year One thousand nine hundred and nineteen.

(L.S.)

CHARLES KNIGHT,

Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Health.

*T

CIRCULAR OF BOARD OF TRADE,

Board of Trade,

Whitehall, S.W.1,

9th September, 1919.

Sir, (1) The Profiteering Act, 1919, which has just been passed empowers the Board of Trade as and when it appears necessary or expedient to establish or to authorise any Local Authority to establish Local or other Committees, and to delegate to such Local or other Committees any or all of the powers of the Board under the Act other than the power of the Board to fix prices.

The Act further authorises the Board of Trade to make Regulations, and to give directions as to the constitution, powers and procedure of the Committees to be established, and the districts for which such Committees shall act, and requires that such regulations shall provide for a right of appeal by the seller from any order or decision of the Local Committee other than a decision to take proceedings before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction.

Being convinced that the powers conferred on the Board by the Act can be most expeditiously and satisfactorily administered by Local Committees appointed by the Local Authorities, I have decided to invite Local Authorities to appoint Local Committees, to which Committees I propose to delegate the power to investigate, hear and determine all complaints arising out of the retail sale and distribution of those articles or classes of articles to which the Act shall from time to time be applied by order of the Board of Trade.

A copy of the Act and of the Regulations which have been made for the guidance and assistance of the Local Committees are enclosed herewith.

This circular sets out fully the constitution, powers, and procedure of the Committee, and the matters with which the Committees will have to deal. For the purpose of easy reference the circular is divided into paragraphs.

(2) The Scope of the Act.-The Act only applies to any article or class of articles to which it is applied by Order of the Board of Trade, such article or class of articles being declared by the Order to be one or one of a kind in common use by the public or to be material, machinery, or accessories used in the production of such articles.

The Act does not apply to any articles which are from time to time declared to be controlled, nor to the sale of any article for export from the United Kingdom, nor to the sale of articles by public auction or competitive tender, nor does the Act apply to any sale or other transaction which took place before the passing of the Act.

It is intended that Orders shall be made from time to time by the Board of Trade applying the Act to the articles or class of articles set out in such Orders, and that copies of the Orders shall be supplied to the Local Committees.

(3) Constitution of Local Committees.-In accordance with the provisions of the Act the Local Authorities, as defined in the Regulations, are invited to appoint Local Committees for their respective districts.

The number of persons to be appointed to such Local Committee is left to be determined by the Local Authority according to the needs of the district, but must not be less than seven or more than twenty-five.

Generally speaking, it is desirable that cases should be heard by a body of not more than five persons, but it is necessary to appoint more than this number to form the Local Committee because all the members will not be able always to be present. Furthermore, in some places it will, no doubt, be found convenient that the Committee should sit in separate sections, and at different centres. For this purpose the Regulations provide for the appointment of SubCommittees.

This should not be done unless the circumstances are such as to make it clearly desirable and in determining what system to adopt the Local Authority will no doubt have regard to the requirements of the district.

In view of the fact that the Act only remains in force for a period of six months, it will be appreciated that it is desirable that the Local Committees should be appointed without delay. I shall accordingly be obliged if a meeting of the Local Authority is immediately convened for this purpose. A form is enclosed with this letter for giving particulars of the persons appointed to form. the Local Committee, and this form should be returned to the Board of Trade within three days of the appointment of the Local Committee.

(4) Qualification of Members of the Committee.-The functions of the Local Committee will be of a judicial nature, and it is therefore important that persons should be appointed to the Committee who will consider the cases impartially.

Subject to the special provisions contained in the Act and Regulations as to the constitution of the Committee, it is left to the discretion of the Local Authority to appoint persons within or without their own body, and they should not hesitate to select persons who are not members of the Authority, wherever this is desirable.

The Act and the Regulations provide for the inclusion of women on all Local Committees, and at least two members of each Local Committee should be women. The Act further provides that the powers of the Board of Trade in relation to articles of food or drink to which the Act is applied shall be exercised jointly or in agreement with the Food Controller, and it has accordingly been arranged that not less than three members of the Local Food Control Committee shall be appointed members of each Local Committee. The Local Food Control Committee should be invited to nominate these three members.

The Regulations provide for the appointment of a special SubCommittee consisting of five members, of whom three shall be members of the Local Food Control Committee. All complaints relating to the retail sale of articles of food or drink are to be referred to the special Sub-Committee, and are to be investigated, heard, and determined by the special Sub-Committee.

The experience of the members of the Local Food Control Committees will no doubt prove of considerable assistance to the Local Committees in considering complaints other than those relating solely to articles of food and drink.

As the work of the Committees will closely concern the working classes, it is imperative that they should be adequately represented on the Committees.

(5) Disqualification of Trade Competitors.-The Act and Regulations provide that no member of the Local Committee shall sit or adjudicate in any case or complaint in which he is a Trade Competitor of the person against whom the complaint under investigation has been lodged.

The necessity for this provision will be clear to all the members of the Local Committee, and it is essential that this provision should be rigorously enforced, otherwise the decision of the Committee may be nullified.

The Regulations further provide that no member of the Local Committee shall sit or adjudicate on any complaint in which he is in any way personally interested.

(6) Expenses of the Local Committee.-In accordance with the provisions of Subsection (1) of Section 7 of the Act, the expenses of any Local Committee established by the Local Authorities are to be defrayed by the Local Authorities out of such fund or rate, and in such manner as may be directed by the Board of Trade.

The Board of Trade accordingly direct in the Regulations that the expenses of any Local Committee established in England and Wales shall be defrayed by the Local Authority in like manner as if they were expenses under the Public Health Act, 1875, or the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and that in Scotland the expenses of any Local Committee appointed by the Local Authority shall be defrayed out of the public health general assessment provided that such expenses shall not be reckoned in any calculations as to the statutory limits of that assessment.

Any fines imposed at the instance of a Local Committee established by a Local Authority under the Act are to be applied in aid of the same fund or rate.

As regards England and Wales the Ministry of Health consider, that where the accounts relating to the fund or rate indicated are subject to audit by the District Auditor, separate accounts should be kept in respect of the receipts and expenditure under the Act, which accounts should form part of and be submitted for audit as accounts of the Local Authority.

In the opinion of the Secretary for Scotland a similar course should be followed in Scotland.

(7) Procedure.-The Regulations provide that the complaints shall be made to the Local Committee in writing within four days of the date of the sale or transaction which is the subject of the complaint. The Local Committee will dismiss all complaints which are not lodged within the time specified in the Regulations. On the hearing of the complaint the Local Committee are entitled subject to any special provision in the Regulations to regulate their own procedure.

(8) Evidence.-Subject to any special directions contained in the Regulations it will be for the Local Committee to determine what evidence shall be taken to elucidate the facts of the complaint under consideration. The complainant and respondent to the complaint have the right of being heard by the Committee in all cases, and may appear by themselves or by Counsel or Solicitor, or other person appointed by them for the purpose.

The Regulations entitle the Local Committee to summon any person to appear before the Committee, and to furnish such information and produce such documents as the Committee may require. In the event of any person failing to comply with any Order of the Local Committee (which would include an Order summoning him to appear before the Committee), he will be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding Fifty Pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month, or to both such imprisonment and fine.

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