§§ 31-32. allotments have been provided, in such manner as may be provided by the rules made under this Act by the council, and any ratepayer of such borough, district, or parish, without paying any fee, may take copies of or extracts from the list.1

Sale of superfluous or unsuitable

land.

(1) This section is repealed by the Act of 1919.

32.—(1.) Where the council of any borough, urban district, or parish are of opinion that any land acquired by them for allotments or any part thereof is not needed for the purpose of allotments, or that some more suitable land is available, they may, with the sanction of the county council, sell or let such land otherwise than under the provisions of this Act, or exchange the land for other land more suitable for allotments, and may pay or receive money for equality of exchange.1

(2.) The proceeds of a sale under this Act of land acquired for allotments, and any money received by the council on any such exchange as aforesaid by way of equality of exchange, shall be applied in discharging, either by way of a sinking fund or otherwise, the debts and liabilities of the council in respect of the land acquired by the council for allotments, or in acquiring, adapting, and improving other land for allotments, and any surplus remaining may be applied for any purpose for which capital money may be applied, and which is approved by the Local Government Board; and the interest thereon (if any) and any money received from the letting of the land may be applied in acquiring other land for allotments or shall be applied in like manner as receipts from allotments under this Act are applicable.2

(3.) Sections one hundred and twenty-eight to one hundred and thirty-two of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (relating to the right of pre-emption of superfluous lands), shall apply upon any sale in pursuance of this section of any land, but, save as aforesaid,

the provisions of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, with respect to the sale of superfluous lands shall not apply.3

(1) This sub-section gave the council a free hand in selling, letting, or exchanging land originally acquired for allotments which was not needed for that purpose, or in lieu of which some more suitable land is available. But the previous sanction of the county council had to be obtained before so dealing with the land. A council cannot generally use land acquired by them for allotments for some other purpose, even although such purpose may be within their powers. (Att.-Gen. v. Hanwell Urban Council, 69 L. J. Ch. 626; (1900) 2 Ch. 377.) But see sect. 45, which allows the interchange of land for small holdings and allotments, and see sect. 22 of the Act of 1919, which empowers a council, with the consent of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health, to appropriate for other purposes of the council land acquired by the council for allotments.

The section must now be read in conjunction with sect. 8 of the Act of 1925. (Post, p. 184.) That section forbids the sale, appropriation, use or disposal of land purchased for use as allotments for any purpose other than its use for allotments without the consent of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries after consultation with the Minister of Health, and if such consent is obtained the sanction of the county council will not be required.

(2) This sub-section lays down in what way the proceeds of sale of superfluous or unsuitable land are to be dealt with. The capital may be applied (a) in discharging, by way of sinking fund or otherwise, the debts and liabilities of the council in respect of the acquisition of allotments, which will include money borrowed for that purpose under sect. 53, sub-sect. 4; or (b) in acquiring, adapting, or improving other land for allotments; any surplus after meeting objects (a) and (b) may be applied (c) for any purpose approved by the Minister of Health for which capital may lawfully be applied by the council. Under (c) will come such purposes as are mentioned in sect. 8 of the Local Government Act, 1894, which empowers parish councils to provide or acquire buildings for public offices, a recreation ground, to provide a water supply, &c., or such purposes as are covered by the adoptive Acts mentioned in sect. 7-viz., the Lighting and Watching Act, 1833, the Baths and Washhouses Acts, 1846 to 1882, the Burial Acts, 1852 to 1885, the Public Improvements Act, 1860, and the Public Libraries Act, 1892.

§ 32.

§§ 32, 33.

Transfer of allotments to

borough,

councils.

The interest on any capital money received may be applied in acquiring other land for allotments, or in like manner as receipts from allotments under this Act are applicable. (See sect. 54.) (3) This sub-section is repealed by the Act of 1919.

33.-(1.) The allotment wardens under the Inclosure Acts, 1845 to 1882, having the management of any land district, and appropriated under those Acts either before or after the parish passing of this Act for allotments or field gardens for the labouring poor of any place, may, by agreement with the council of the borough, urban district, or parish, within whose borough, district, or parish that place is wholly or partly situate, transfer the management of that land to the council, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon with the sanction, as regards the allotment wardens, of the Board, and thereupon the land shall vest in the council.1

45 & 46 Vict.

c. 80.

(2.) All trustees within the meaning of the Allotments Extension Act, 1882, required or authorised by that or any other Act to let lands in allotments to cottagers, labourers, journeymen, or others in any place, may, if they think fit, in lieu of letting the land in manner provided by the said Acts, sell or let the land to the council of the borough, urban district, or parish in which such place is wholly or partly situate, upon such terms as may be agreed upon, with the sanction, as regards the trustees, of the Charity Commissioners or the Board of Education, as the case may require.2

(3.) Where, as respects any rural parish, any Act constitutes any persons wardens of allotments, or authorises. or requires the appointment or election of any wardens, committee, or managers for the purpose of allotments, the powers and duties of the wardens, committee, or managers shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be exercised and performed by the parish council, or, in the case of a parish not having a parish council, by persons appointed by the parish meeting, and it shall not be necessary to make the said appointment or to hold the said election.

(4.) The provisions of this Act relating to allotments shall apply to land vested in, or the management whereof has been transferred to, a council under this section or the corresponding provision of any enactment repealed by this Act in like manner as if the land had been acquired by the council under the general powers of this Part of

this Act.

(1) Allotments for the labouring poor set out under the General Inclosure Acts are vested in the churchwardens and overseers (Inclosure Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 118), s. 73), but are managed by allotment wardens, who are the incumbent or officiating minister, one churchwarden and two other ratepayers chosen in the same manner as overseers. (Inclosure Act, 1845, s. 105.) Under this sub-section the management of such allotments may be transferred, and the transfer will vest the land in the council without the concurrence of the churchwardens and overseers in whom the fee simple is vested. In order that a transfer may operate under this sub-section, it will be necessary to see that the allotment wardens are properly constituted. Even without a transfer the powers and duties of the wardens are, in the case of a rural parish, vested in the parish council, or in the case of a parish not having a parish council, in persons appointed by the parish meeting. (See sub-sect. 3 of this section, and see also sect. 5, sub-sect. 2 (c) of the Local Government Act, 1894, which vests the legal interest in all property vested in the overseers or in the churchwardens or overseers of a rural parish, other than property connected with the affairs of the church or held for an ecclesiastical charity, in the parish council.) The consent of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries to the terms and conditions of the transfer, it would seem, must be obtained. The amount of land which has been allotted for field gardens under the Inclosure Acts is not large. (See Hall-Hall on the Law of Allotments, p. 36.)

(2) The main object of the Allotments Extension Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 80), was the compulsory conversion of lands belonging to parish dole charities for the benefit of the poor, into allotment gardens for the poor of the parish, or any adjoining parish. It extends the provisions of Weyland's Act (1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 42). “Trustees are defined in sect. 2 of the Allotments Extension Act, 1882, to mean trustees, feoffees, and managers, whether corporate or sole, or a committee of the same

66

§ 33.

§§ 33, 34. in such cases as are provided for in the Poor Allotments Management Act, 1873." If the land is sold or let to a council under the present sub-section, the charities will continue to be provided for out of the interest of the purchase-money or rent of the land. Charities for educational purposes do not come within the Allotments Extension Act, 1882, but only charities whereof " the rents or produce are distributed in gifts of money, doles, fuel, clothing, bread, or other articles of sustenance or necessity." (Sect. 4.)

Power to

make scheme

of common pasture.

Supplemental.

34.-(1.) Where it appears to the council of any for provision borough, urban district, or parish that, as regards their borough, district, or parish, land can be acquired for affording common pasture at such price or rent that all expenses incurred by the council in acquiring the land and otherwise in relation to the land when acquired may reasonably be expected to be recouped out of the charges paid in respect thereof, and that the acquisition of such land is desirable in view of the wants and circumstances of the labouring 1 population, the council may submit to the council of the county in which the borough, district, or parish is wholly or partly situate a scheme for providing such common pasture.2

(2.) The county council, if satisfied of the expediency of such scheme, may by order authorise the council which submitted it to carry it into effect, and, upon such an order being made, the provisions of this Act relating to allotments shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in like manner as if "allotments" in those provisions included common pasture, and "rent" included a charge for turning out an animal:

Provided that the rules made under those provisions may extend to regulating the turning out of animals on the common pasture, to defining the persons entitled to turn them out, the number to be turned out, and the conditions under which animals may be turned out, and