Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Act 1919

PART IIICounty Agricultural Committees

7Constitution of committees

(1)The council of every county (other than the London County Council) shall, and the London County Council and the council of any county borough may, establish an agricultural committee constituted in accordance with a scheme made by the council and approved by the Board. A committee may consist partly of persons who are not members of the council.

(2)All matters relating to the exercise by the council of their powers under any Act specified in the Second Schedule to this Act, and all other matters relating to agriculture, except such matters as under the [2 Edw. 7. c. 42.] Education Act, 1902, stand referred to the education committee, and, except the raising of a rate or borrowing, shall stand referred to the agricultural committee, and the council, before exercising their powers in relation to any matter so referred, shall, unless in their opinion the matter is urgent, receive and consider the report of the agricultural committee with respect to the matter in question :

Provided that—

(i)on the application of the council the Board, after consultation with the Board of Education, may by order direct that any matter specified in the order and relating to agricultural education which but for this provision would stand referred to the education committee shall stand referred to the agricultural committee ; and

(ii)if the London County Council or the council of a county borough so resolve matters relating to any of their powers under any Act specified in the said schedule shall not stand so referred to the agricultural committee.

(3)The council may delegate to the agricultural committee with or without any restrictions or conditions any of their powers in relation to matters which by virtue of this section stand referred to the committee, and, if so provided by the scheme, any powers so delegated may in like manner be delegated by the agricultural committee to a sub-committee. A sub-committee may consist partly of persons who are not members of the council or of the agricultural committee.

(4)Every scheme under this section shall provide—

(a)for the appointment by the council of at least a majority of the agricultural committee, and the persons so appointed shall be persons who are members of the council, unless, in the case of a county, the council otherwise determine ;

(b)for the appointment by the Board of not more than one third of the members of the agricultural committee, and of any sub-committee to which powers of the agricultural committee are delegated ;

(c)for the inclusion of women as well as men among the members of the agricultural committee ;

(d)for the appointment, in the case of the council of every county (other than the London County Council), of such persons only as have practical, commercial, technical, or scientific knowledge of agriculture or an interest in agricultural land.

(5)Any scheme under this section may provide for the payment as part of the. expenses of the agricultural committee of travelling expenses and subsistence allowance of members of the committee or of any sub-committee of the committee.

(6)Any scheme under this section may, for all or any of the purposes of this section, provide for a joint agricultural committee for any area formed by a combination of counties or county boroughs or parts thereof.

(7)If a scheme under this section has not been made by a council of a county (other than the London County Council) and approved by the Board within six months after the passing of this Act, the Board may, after consultation with the council, make a scheme for the purposes for which a scheme might have been made by the council.

8Additional powers of committees

(1)The Board may authorise, subject to any restrictions or conditions they think fit, an agricultural committee or a sub-committee thereof to exercise on behalf of the Board any of the powers of the Board -under the provisions of Part IV. of the [7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. 46.] Corn Production Act, 1917, or Part II. of the [8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 17.] Land Drainage Act, 1918, notwithstanding that the committee or subcommittee is not constituted in accordance with those provisions, or any powers of the Board in relation to land acquired by them under the [6 & 7 Geo. 5. c. 38.] Small Holding Colonies Acts, 1916 and [8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 26.] 1918.

(2)The agricultural committee shall appoint a small holdings and allotments sub-committee and a diseases of animals subcommittee, who shall respectively act as the small holdings and allotments committee required to be established under section fifty of the [8 Edw. 7. c. 36.] Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, and as the executive committee appointed under the [57 & 58 Vict. c. 57.] Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, though the sub-committee may not be constituted in accordance with the provisions of those Acts. Any power of the county council or borough council exerciseable under the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, or any Act amending the same (except the power to raise a rate or loan) shall be exerciseable by the sub-committee so appointed until the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and twenty-six, notwithstanding that the exercise of such power has not been delegated to the sub-committee under the preceding section.

(3)The small holdings and allotments sub-committee shall comprise one or more members as representing tenants of small holdings and allotments.

(4)A county agricultural committee (other than an agricultural committee for the administrative county of London) shall make such inquiries as appear to them to be desirable with a view to formulating schemes for the development of rural industries and social life in rural places, and for the co-ordination of action by local authorities and other bodies by which such development may be effected, and shall report the result of such inquiries to the Board and to any local authority or body concerned, and the expenses incurred by the committee under this subsection to such amount as may be sanctioned by the Board with the approval of the Treasury shall be defrayed by the Board.

9Audit of accounts

(1)The accounts of an agricultural committee and of their officers shall be audited as part of the accounts of the council by whom the committee is established.

(2)Where a joint agricultural committee is formed for an area, including a county or any part of a county, the accounts of the joint committee and of their officers shall be audited as if the joint committee were a county council, and the enactments relating to the audit of accounts of county councils shall apply accordingly.

(3)The accounts of any sub-committee of an agricultural committee or joint agricultural committee to which this section applies shall be deemed to. be accounts of the agricultural committee or joint agricultural committee.

10Interpretation

In this Act the expression " agriculture" includes horticulture and forestry, and the expression " rural industries " means local industries connected with agriculture.