HOME OFFICE CIRCULAR.

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HOME OFFICE CIRCULAR.

4th January, 1927.

REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACTS, 1918 to 1926; JURIES ACT, 1922; RATING AND VALUATION ACT, 1925PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES OF OVERSEERS.

Sir, I am directed by the Secretary of State to say, for the information of the Registration Officer, that a draft Order in Council prepared under section 62 of the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, with respect to the exercise as from the 1st April, 1927, of powers and duties of overseers, has been laid before both Houses of Parliament. No address having been presented by either House against the draft Order or any part of it, the Order is expected to be made at an early date.

In the meantime, it may be of assistance to the Registration Officer in making his arrangements for the future preparation of the jurors book and register of electors that he should be aware of the provision included in the draft Order for the exercise of the powers and duties of overseers as to those matters. Accordingly a copy of Article 3 of the draft Order is enclosed herewith.

Under Rule 7 in the First Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1918, the Registration Officer may require the overseers to prepare and publish the electors lists on his behalf, and by section I of the Juries Act, 1922, he may require the overseers to furnish particulars of persons qualified and liable to serve as jurors for the purpose of their names being duly marked in the register of electors forming the jurors book. Article 3 of the proposed Order will transfer to the Rating Authority the powers and duties of overseers relating to the preparation of the jurors book and register of electors, and, if the Registration Officer desires to avail himself of the powers given to him by the enactments mentioned or either of them, the Rating Authority, on his request, will designate an officer or officers to perform the duties. The remuneration of a designated officer in respect of the preparation of the register will be paid as registration expenses and in respect of the preparation of the jurors book will be paid by the Rating Authority.

It is obviously desirable for the purposes of settling the respective staff arrangements to be made after 1st April next, that there should be the earliest possible interchange of views between Registration Officers and Rating Authorities. The Secretary of State suggests that

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the Registration Officer should proceed forthwith to consider what are the most suitable arrangements for the proper preparation of the jurors book and register throughout his area in the future and should as soon as practicable inform all the Rating Authorities concerned of the extent to which he contemplates making use of the services of their officers upon this work. In connection with the matter the Registration Officer will, it is hoped, bear in mind the two following considerations. First, if he decides not to avail himself of the assistance of rating officers for the purpose of the preparation of the register in 1927, any request by the Registration Officer for their assistance in a subsequent year might, unless foreseen and provided for by the Rating Authority, put the latter to some inconvenience. Presumably in cases where the Registration Officer has hitherto called upon the overseers to prepare the electors lists, he will desire as a general rule that transferred officers who were formerly engaged on the work and are being retained in the service of the Rating Authority shall be designated by that Authority to assist him in future, and it may be expected that the Rating Authority will be prepared to designate such of these officers as he may wish to employ. The Minister of Health proposes to intimate to the Rating Authorities that so far as practicable they should comply with any request made by the Registration Officer that particulars officers should be designated.

In the second place, regard should be had to the right of assistant overseers to be paid compensation for loss in respect of registration fees or emoluments. On the one hand, by section 18 of the Representation of the People Act, 1918, any person in office as assistant overseer at the passing of that Act and suffering any direct pecuniary loss in consequence of the Act, was given the right to be paid as registration expenses compensation for that loss. On the other hand, by section 49 of the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, any transferred officer who by virtue of the Act or of anything done in pursuance or in consequence thereof, suffers any direct pecuniary loss by abolition of office or by determination of his appointment, or by diminution or loss of fees, salary or emoluments and for whose compensation for that loss provision is not made by any other enactment for the time being in force will be entitled to compensation for that loss payable by the rating authority. Fees or remuneration in connection. with the preparation of the electors lists are, subject to a reasonable deduction for expenses, to be regarded as part of the emoluments of the officer for purposes of compensation. The Registration Officer will recognise the importance so far as he is concerned, and so far as is compatible with the efficient performance of the work, of giving an opportunity for the employment upon registration of assistant overseers in office in 1918 to whom section 18 of the Act of 1918 applies and who are transferred to and retained in the service of the Rating Authority.

In particular cases the Registration Officer may wish to continue to employ on registration work assistant overseers who on their

transfer to the Rating Authority are not retained in the service of that Authority. This is a matter within the discretion of the Registration Officer, who will bear in mind that such employment may affect the position of the officer in relation to compensation under the Rating and Valuation Act.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

MALCOLM DELEVINGNE.

DRAFT OF A SPECIAL ORDER PROPOSED TO BE MADE BY THE MINISTER OF HEALTH UNDER SECTION 62 OF THE RATING AND VALUATION ACT, 1925:

JURORS BOOK AND ELECTORS REGISTER.

3.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this article, the powers and duties of overseers under the enactments relating to the preparation of the jurors book and register of electors are hereby transferred to the rating authority.

(2) If the registration officer at any time shall send the rating authority a request that one or more of their officers shall be designated by them to perform the duties of overseers in relation to the preparation of the jurors book or the register of electors, the rating authority shall forthwith designate one or more of their officers for the purpose, and the officer or officers so designated shall, while the designation continues in force, perform the duties of overseers in relation to those matters or either of them, as the case may be:

Provided that if the registration officer shall raise a question whether an officer designated by a rating authority is an officer to whom the work can properly be assigned by the rating authority, that question shall be determined by the Secretary of State.

(3) A designation under this article of an officer to perform any duty shall cease to have effect if either the rating authority revoke the designation, or the registration officer notifies the rating authority that the assistance of the designated officer will not be required by him in the performance of that duty :

Provided that any such revocation or notification, if given at any time between the 30th day of April and the 15th day of October in any year, shall not have effect until the 15th day of October in the same year.

(4) Where the rating authority revoke a designation under this article they shall forthwith send notice of the revocation to the registration officer.

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(5) The remuneration and expenses of a designated officer in respect of

(a) the preparation of the jurors book shall be payable by the rating authority in accordance with the enactments relating to the preparation of the jurors book; and

(b) the preparation of the register of electors shall be defrayed in accordance with the enactments relating to the registration of electors.

(6) Any document required to be signed by overseers and relating to the preparation of the jurors book or the registers of electors may be signed by an officer designated under this article by the rating authority.

Circular 757.

SIR,

MINISTRY OF HEALTH,

Whitehall, S.W. 1.

20th January, 1927.

THE MILK AND DAIRIES ORDER, 1926.

1. I am directed by the Minister of Health to say that he has received a number of enquiries as to the construction and administration of the Milk and Dairies Order, 1926, especially in relation to farmers who sell only a small quantity of milk, mainly to their employees and their neighbours. He thinks it desirable, therefore, to indicate his views on these questions for the guidance of Local Authorities.

Registration under the Order.

2. A number of the questions which have been raised relate in terms to the liability of the farmer himself to registration. The provisions of the Order in this respect differ somewhat from those of the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Order of 1885. The exemptions contained in the earlier Order for persons who carry on the trade of cowkeeper or dairyman for the purpose only of making and selling butter or cheese and for persons who sell milk of their own cows in small quantities to their workmen or neighbours for their accommodation, have been omitted, and the new Order, following the terms of Section 1 (I) (a) of the Milk and Dairies (Consolidation) Act, 1915, provides for the registration of all persons carrying on the trade of cowkeeper or dairyman. Provision is also made for the registration of all dairies. Under the Act a" dairy "includes, inter alia, all farms from which milk is supplied on or for sale, whether or not the extent of such sale amounts to the carrying on of a trade.

3. The sale of milk which renders the dairy premises subject to registration would not necessarily constitute the carrying on of a trade involving the registration of the dairyman, and the question whether any particular person is carrying on a trade is one of fact which can only be settled on a consideration of the circumstances. In reply, however, to a request from a Local Authority for some general ruling, the Minister, while pointing out that he has no jurisdiction which would enable him to give a decision, has suggested that in ordinary cases, where a person keeps a number of cows, not exceeding the number required for the purposes of his own household and sells any milk, butter, etc., which may from time to time be produced surplus to those requirements, he might properly be regarded as not carrying on the trade of dairyman and, therefore, as not being subject to registration under the Order.

4. A somewhat wider interpretation than they were intended to bear appears to have been placed in some quarters upon the terms of the Minister's letter. The relevant consideration appears to the Minister to be whether the farmer in fact keeps more cows than would normally be required for the needs of his household. If so, there appears to be prima facie ground for assuming that he is "carrying on the trade of a dairyman."