CIRCULAR OF MINISTRY OF HEALTH. NATIONAL REGISTRATION ACTS, 1915 AND 1918. EXPENSES OF MAINTAINING THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Ministry of Health, 16th September, 1919. Sir,—1. I am directed by the Minister of Health to advert to the Circular addressed to Local Registration Authorities on the 14th July last, in which it was intimated that it was not proposed to take any steps to secure the continuance of the National Registration Acts, 1915 and 1918, and that administrative operations under the Acts might properly be suspended in anticipation of the date of their expiry. The Acts will expire upon the date which is to be declared by Order in Council under the Termination of the Present War (Definition) Act, 1918, as the date of the termination of the war. In view, however, of the suspension of administrative operations under the Acts, local registration authorities are no doubt now in a position to submit their final claims for the repayment of expenses incurred by them under the Acts. The authorities have been supplied with forms of claim for the repayment of expenses in respect of periods to the 30th September, 1918, on the basis approved by the Treasury. In respect of the period subsequent to that date the Ministry have been authorised by the Treasury to repay the expenses reasonably incurred by local registration authorities under the Acts, and two copies of a form of claim for the repayment of such expenses are enclosed. Α certificate signed by the Clerk to the Authority must be appended to each claim for repayment showing that the expenses claimed have been actually paid by the Authority. In order that any sums payable out of the grant which has been voted by Parliament for expenses under the Acts may be paid before the end of the present financial year, it is necessary that all claims for repayment should be forwarded to the Ministry at the earliest practicable date. 2. The question as to the disposal of the records which constitute the National Register and other documents in connection therewith is under consideration, and pending a decision upon this question the Minister desires that each Local Registration Authority will give directions to secure the due preservation and safe custody of the documents relating to their district. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, Secretary. The Clerk to the Local Registration Authority. CIRCULAR OF MINISTRY OF HEALTH. HOUSING, TOWN PLANNING, ETC., ACT, 1919. Ministry of Health, Whitehall, S.W.1. 7th October, 1919. Sir, I am directed by the Minister of Health to draw the attention of the County Council to certain provisions of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919, which became law on 31st July last. Schemes for the Provision of New Houses. As the County Council are aware the primary responsibility for the provision of the new houses which are required to make good the existing shortage will rest with the Local Authority within the meaning of Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. The Act provides, however, by Section 3 that in certain events the powers of the Local Authority may, as regards the preparation or carrying out of a particular scheme, be transferred to the County Council. I am therefore to forward herewith for the information of the County Council in this connection the enclosed copies of— (1) A Circular which has been addressed to the Local Authorities; (2) A Form of Survey to be used in estimating the housing needs of the district of the Local Authority; and (3) A Memorandum containing a short summary of some of the principal provisions of the Act. A separate memorandum has been sent to you (General Housing Memorandum No. 8) dealing with the terms of financial assistance to Local Authorities, and to County Councils to whom the powers of a Local Authority have been transferred under Section 3 of the Act of 1919. Financial Assistance to County Councils for the Provision of Houses for their Employees. Section 7 contains a very valuable provision, affecting County Councils, of which it is hoped that a wide use will be made. The Section provides for financial assistance to a County Council or a Statutory Committee of a County Council for the provision of houses for persons in their employment or paid by them, and this provision also applies, by virtue of subsection (5) of the same section, to Asylums Boards and other bodies constituted for the purpose of the administration of the Lunacy Acts. In order to remove doubts Section 8 provides that a County Council shall have power and shall be deemed always to have had power to provide houses for persons in the employment of or paid by the council or a statutory committee of the council, and for that purpose a County Council may be authorised to acquire land in like manner as a local authority may be authorised to acquire land for the purposes of Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. When money is borrowed for this purpose the maximum period for repayment will be eighty years instead of thirty years. The financial assistance is subject to regulations to be made by the Minister with the approval of the Treasury, and copies of these Regulations are enclosed herewith. The financial assistance to be given by the State takes the form of a fixed annual subsidy. The subsidy will be equivalent to thirty per cent. of the annual loan charges on the total amount of the capital raised by the County Council under the approved scheme, and for this purpose the annual loan charges will be calculated in the following way. It will be assumed that the whole of the capital has been borrowed from the Public Works Loan Commissioners, on the terms allowed to Local Authorities, and the loan charges will be taken to be those which would in that case be payable. The intention of the subsidy is to relieve the County Council of the proportion of the present increased cost of building which may be ascribed to a temporary inflation of prices due to war conditions. It is hoped that with the assistance which is now offered the Council may be enabled to put in hand at once the building of houses which they would otherwise have felt bound to defer in the expectation of a fall of prices. In this way an important contribution may be made towards meeting the grave shortage of housing accommodation. Since the object of the subsidy is to encourage building during the present emergency period the regulations prescribe the following time limits during which an assisted scheme must be carried into effect: (1) The Minister must be satisfied that reasonable progress has been made with the carrying into effect of the scheme within twelve months from the passing of the Act, that is to say, before 31st July, 1920. (2) The scheme must be carried into effect within three years from the passing of the Act, that is to say, before 31st July, 1922, or such further period as the Minister may allow, regard being had to the supplies of labour and material available from time to time and all other iocal or general circumstances affecting the carrying into effect of the scheme. A scheme will be deemed to have been carried into effect when all the houses to be provided under it are let or are available for letting. Other Sections affecting County Councils. Section 6 deals with inspections by County Medical Officers of Health, in certain cases, on the direction of the Minister of Health. Under Section 14 a County Council is given power to acquire water rights, subject to suitable safeguards, for the purpose of affording a water supply for houses provided or to be provided under a scheme made by them under the Housing Acts. Under Section 18 the power, which the council already have (under Section 72 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909) to promote the formation of, and afford financial assistance to, public utility societies is enlarged and extended. A separate memorandum (General Housing Memorandum No. 9) has been sent to the County Council explaining the terms of State assistance to these Societies, and the powers of County Councils and Local Authorities in this connection. Part II. of the Act deals with town planning, and Section 43 recognises the right of a County Council to be heard with reference to any proposal by a Local Authority to prepare or adopt a town planning scheme. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, E. R. FORBER, Assistant Secretary. The Clerk to the County Council. |