(2.) Sections eight and sixteen of the principal Act (which relate respectively to the adaptation of land for small holdings and to the letting of land unsold and to the sale of superfluous or unsuitable land), shall cease to have effect.4

§ 12.

(3.) The provisions of the Lands Clauses (Consolida- 8 & 9 Vict. tion) Act, 1845, with respect to the sale of superfluous c. 18. land, shall not apply to land acquired by a council under

the principal Act.5

(1) The consent of the Minister is not required to the sale of land when the land forms part of land acquired by the council under Part I. of the Act of 1926 without the consent of the Minister. See Act of 1926, s. 20 (1), post, p. 215.

(2) Generally a local authority having acquired land for one purpose cannot permanently divert the same to some other purpose, although that purpose may be within their powers: Att.Gen. v. Hanwell Urban Council (69 L. J. Ch. 626; [1900] 2 Ch. 377); Att.-Gen. v. Pontypridd Urban Council (75 L. J. Ch. 578; [1906] 2 Ch. 257). But land acquired for a definite purpose may in the interval before it is required for such purpose be used in any lawful manner which does not substantially interfere with its immediate use, when so needed for the purpose for which it was acquired: Att.-Gen. v. Teddington Urban Council (67 L. J. Ch. 23; [1898] 1 Ch. 66).

This sub-section negatives this restriction in the case of land acquired under the Act of 1908, which with the consent of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Local Government Board (now the Ministry of Health), may be appropriated for other purposes of the council, and in the case of land acquired for other purposes of the council (e.g., for housing or building of schools) which may be diverted for small holdings or allotments. See Small Holdings and Allotments Regulations, 1922, post, p. 259, as to consents of the Ministry required.

(3) This general power of management was not included in the Act of 1908, and is an extension of the powers of a council. It would give power to the council to farm the land themselves for a time.

(4) These sections have now been repealed.

(5) The provisions of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, with regard to the sale of superfluous land are contained in sect. 128 and following sections of that Act.

§§ 13, 14.

Removal of necessity for consent of Board after a certain period.

Extension of term of loans.

13. Notwithstanding any provision in the principal Act, the consent of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries shall not, after the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, be required for the acquisition, sale, mortgage, exchange, letting, improvement, or management of land by a county council under the principal Act, except in cases where such consent is required by some enactment other than the principal Act.1

(1) After the 31st March, 1926, councils have had a free hand in acquiring, letting, selling, mortgaging, etc., and the necessity of submitting schemes to or obtaining the consent of the Board is done away with. Under the previous sect. 12, sub-sect. 1 (b), of this Act, the consent of the Ministry was for the time required in the case of any sale, mortgage, or exchange, though not of letting. This section provides that after 31st March, 1926, such consent shall no longer be necessary except in cases where consent is required by an enactment other than the principal Act. The "principal Act" includes this Act. See sect. 32 (1), post, p. 126. But see sect. 20 (2) of the Act of 1926 (post, p. 215) as to cases where consent is required under that Act.

14. (1.) The Public Works Loan Commissioners may lend to a county council any money which the council are authorised to borrow under the principal Act on such terms and conditions as the Treasury may prescribe.

(2.) During the period from the commencement of this section to the expiration of two years after the passing of this Act, the Treasury may issue to the Commissioners out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or the growing produce thereof, sums not exceeding in the aggregate twenty million pounds, and the loans made by the Commissioners may be met out of the moneys so, issued instead of out of the Local Loans Fund.1

(3.) After the expiration of the said two years any loans so made by the Public Works Loan Commissioners shall be made from the Local Loans Fund in manner pro38 & 39 Vict. vided by the Public Works Loans Act, 1875, as modified by sub-section (2) of section fifty-two of the principal

c. 89.

Act, except that proviso (a) of that sub-section shall not §§ 14, 15. apply, when the loan is made in respect of the acquisition

or adaptation of land acquired before the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-six.2

(4.) For the purposes of any borrowing under the principal Act by a county council for the erection of buildings, or any loan under this section by the Public Works Loan Commissioners to a county council for that purpose, for the period of fifty years mentioned in section fifty-two of the principal Act there shall be substituted the period of sixty years.

(5.) This section shall be deemed to have had effect as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and nineteen.

(1) By the Land Settlement Amendment Act, 1921 (11 & 12 Geo. 5, c. 5), this section is amended by declaring that the section shall have effect as if for the period ending on the expiration of two years after the passing of the Act there was substituted a period ending on the expiration of four years from the passing of the Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 1919, or on such later date as the Treasury after consultation with the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries may fix.

(2) Proviso (a) of sect. 52, sub-sect. 2, of the Act of 1908 enacts that the loan shall be made at the minimum rate allowed for the time being for loans out of the local funds.

Board to

15. A determination by a county council as to the Consent of period within which any money borrowed for the purpose period of of the exercise of their powers under this Act shall be borrowing by county repaid shall, if the money is borrowed after the passing of councils. this Act and before the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, be subject to the approval of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.1

(1) Sect. 52 (1) of the Act of 1908 enables a county council borrowing money to determine, with the consent of the Local Government Board, the period within which it shall be repaid, but not to exceed eighty years when borrowed for the purchase of land, and sixty years in other cases.

§ 16.

Amendment

of section 41 of principal Act.

16.-(1.) An order under the principal Act may, notwithstanding anything in section forty-one thereof, authorise the compulsory acquisition—

(a) of any land which at the date of the order forms part of any park1 or of any home farm1 attached to and usually occupied with a mansion house, if the land is not required for the amenity or convenience of the mansion house; or

(b) of a holding of fifty acres or less in extent or any part of such a holding.2

(2.) Where it is proposed to acquire any land forming part of a park or any such home farm, or except where required for purposes of allotments, a holding of fifty acres or less in extent or of an annual value not exceeding [one hundred] pounds for the purposes of income tax,2 or any part of such a holding, the order authorising the acquisition of the land shall not be valid unless confirmed or made by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.

(3.) A holding to which the preceding sub-section applies shall not in whole or in part be compulsorily acquired under the principal Act by the Board or 3 a council where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Board or3 the council, as the case may be,3 that the holding is the principal means of livelihood of the occupier thereof, except where the occupier is a tenant and consents to the acquisition.2

(1) As to the meaning of the words "park" and "home farm," see notes to sect. 41 of the Act of 1908, ante, p. 58. When the land of a home farm is "required for the amenity or convenience of the mansion house" it will be altogether excluded from compulsory acquisition.

(2) The consent of the Ministry is required not only to the compulsory acquisition of a holding of fifty acres or less in extent (which is excepted altogether by the Act of 1908), but also to a holding of an annual value not exceeding 50l. (now 100l. by the Act of 1926) for the purposes of income tax, which is not dealt with by the Act of 1908. In either case if the holding is

the principal means of livelihood of the occupier, its acquisition §§ 16-18. is altogether forbidden unless the occupier is a tenant and con

sents to the acquisition.

(3) The words in italics are repealed by the Act of 1926.

county

17. A county council may acquire land for the purpose Power of of leasing it to the council of a parish within the county council to for the provision of allotments, and the provisions of the acquire land for letting to principal Act relating to the acquisition, and to proceed- parish ings in relation to the acquisition, of land for the purpose allotments. of providing small holdings shall apply to such acquisition as if the land were to be acquired for the provision of small holdings.1

(1) Under sect. 39 (7) of the Act of 1908 a county council may on behalf of a parish council exercise the powers in relation to compulsory purchase or hiring of land conferred on parish councils, and assure or demise the land so acquired to the parish council. This section empowers a county council in any case whether coming within sect. 39 (7) or not, to acquire land for leasing to a parish council for the provision of allotments. Where there is no parish council in a rural parish the reference to a parish council must be read as referring to the parish meeting. See sect. 61 (4) of the Act of 1908.

council for

advance

tenants of

chase of

18.—(1.) Subject to the provisions of any regulations Power to made by the Treasury, a county council may make or money to guarantee, or undertake to make or guarantee, an advance certain by way of loan to any tenant or prospective tenant of a small holdsmall holding provided by the council under the principal ings for pur. Act, of such sums as they think necessary for the purchase stock, &c. of live stock, fruit trees, seeds, fertilisers, and implements required for the purposes of the holding, and the making of such advances shall be included amongst the purposes for which the council may borrow under section fifty-two of the principal Act.

(2.) The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries may make or guarantee, or undertake to make or guarantee, similar advances to tenants of small holdings provided by the Board.