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19 1932

HOUSING (FINANCIAL AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT, 1932

PART III.

Miscellaneous.

Minister may purchase, manufacture or promote manufacture of building materials, etc.

16. —(1) The Minister may whenever, after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce, it appears to him expedient so to do for the purpose of facilitating the building, reconstruction or repair of houses (including as well houses to which this Act does not apply as houses to which it does apply) in Saorstát Eireann or any part thereof, purchase, manufacture, store, transport, and sell any materials or appliances ordinarily used in the building of houses, or promote in such manner and by such means as to him shall seem proper, the manufacture of such materials and appliances in Saorstát Eireann.

(2) All materials and appliances purchased or manufactured by the Minister under this section shall be sold by the Minister to persons in Saorstát Eireann at a price (in the case of purchased materials or appliances) equal to the total of the price paid by the Minister, all transport and storage charges actually incurred by him, and five per cent. of the price paid by him, or (in case of manufactured materials or appliances) equal to the total of the net cost of the manufacture (including overhead charges and depreciation) thereof by the Minister, all transport and storage charges actually incurred, and five per cent. of the net cost aforesaid.

(3) The expenses incurred in the purchase or manufacture, the promotion of the manufacture, storage, transport, and sale of materials and appliances under this section shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, and the proceeds of the sale of all such materials and appliances shall be paid into the Exchequer.

(4) An account on the double entry method, showing both a trading account and balance sheet, shall be kept of all transactions under this section and in such account all services rendered by any Government Department shall be charged at cost.

Power to limit prices of building materials and appliances.

17. —(1) The Minister for Industry and Commerce may at any time if he thinks fit, on the application of the Minister, hold or cause to be held a public inquiry into the cost (including the wholesale and retail prices, the transport, handling, and overhead charges, and the margin of profit) in Saorstát Eireann or any particular part or parts thereof of any materials or appliances used in the building of houses, and if he is satisfied after the holding of such public inquiry that the cost of such materials or appliances in that area is excessive and restrictive of output of building work, the Minister for Industry and Commerce may by order prescribe the maximum amount of the wholesale price or of the retail price which may be charged for such materials or appliances in that area, or the maximum amount of profit and of transport, handling and overhead charges which may be included in the wholesale or the retail price charged for such materials or appliances in that area and may at any time and from time to time by order continue, vary, or revoke all or any prices or amounts prescribed by him under this section.

(2) If any person charges in any area to which an order under this section applies a price for any material or appliance to which the order applies in excess of the price which may lawfully be charged under the same order, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and where the person guilty of such offence is a company, the chairman, managing director and every other director and manager of the company shall be guilty of the like offence unless he proves that the act constituting the offence took place without his consent or connivance.

(3) This section shall not apply to the price of any material or appliance which is the subject of a contract which was bona fide entered into (whether before or after the passing of this Act) at least one month before the date of the public inquiry and of which a copy was supplied to the Minister for Industry and Commerce within one fortnight after the date of the passing of this Act or the date upon which such contract was made whichever is the later.

(4) Whenever the Minister for Industry and Commerce holds or causes to be held a public inquiry for the purposes of this section the person appointed by such Minister to hold such inquiry shall have power to take evidence on oath and for that purpose to administer oaths, and may also by order require any person, subject to the payment or tender of the reasonable expenses of his attendance, to attend as a witness and give evidence or to produce documents at such inquiry, and if any person fails without reasonable cause or excuse to comply with any such order he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

Power of Minister to act in place of local authority on their default.

18. —(1) The Minister, in any case in which he is satisfied after a local inquiry that a local authority have made default in the exercise of any of their powers under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1931, or the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, may by order require such local authority to exercise such of their powers under the said Acts respectively as may be specified in such order and in such manner and within such time as shall be prescribed therein, and if such local authority fail to comply with any such order within the time prescribed therein, the Minister may by a further order invest himself with and exercise all such powers of such local authority as may be necessary to remedy the default of such local authority in the exercise of their powers under the said Acts respectively.

(2) The Minister may by order vest in and transfer to a local authority in respect of which an order vesting powers in the Minister has been made under sub-section (1) of this section any property, debts, or liabilities acquired or incurred by him in the exercise by him of the powers of such local authority so vested in him, and such property, debts and liabilities shall vest and attach accordingly.

(3) Any expenses incurred by the Minister in the exercise by him of the powers of a local authority under an order made by him under this section shall in the first instance be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, but the amount certified by the Minister to have been so expended and to be properly payable by such local authority shall on, demand be paid to the Minister by such local authority and shall be recoverable as a debt due to the State, and the payment of the sum so payable to the Minister shall be a purpose for which such local authority may borrow under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1931, or the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, as the case may be.

(4) It shall not be necessary, in any case where the Minister exercises under an order made by him under this section any power of a board of health of borrowing money, to obtain the consent of the county council under section 4 of the Local Government Act, 1927 (No. 3 of 1927).

(5) The powers conferred by this section shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other powers for enforcing the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1931, or the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931.

(6) Sub-sections (1) and (3) of Article 32 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, shall apply to every local inquiry held for the purposes of this section.

Official representation by medical officers of health to town commissioners.

19. —For the purpose of the making of an official representation (as defined in section 47 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931 ) under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1931, or under the said section 47 , to the town commissioners of any town having commissioners under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, the medical officer of health of the dispensary district and the county medical officer of health of the county in which such town is situate shall be deemed to be medical officers of health of such town commissioners.

Acquisition of land for the purposes of Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931.

20. —(1) A board of health, acting in the execution of the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, may for any of the purposes of the said Acts, but without any representation or any improvement scheme being made thereunder, acquire land by agreement or be authorised to acquire land compulsorily by means of a compulsory purchase order made by the board of health and submitted to the Minister and confirmed by him in accordance with the provisions contained in the Third Schedule to this Act and may, in either case, without any such representation or any such improvement scheme provide house accommodation on such land or otherwise utilise such land for the purposes of the said Acts.

(2) The provisions of section 17 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931 (No. 50 of 1931), as amended by this Act, with respect to the validity and date of operation of compulsory purchase orders made under that Act, as so amended, shall apply to compulsory purchase orders made under this section.

(3) The Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, shall be construed with such modifications as may be necessary to give effect to this section.

(4) In this section, the word “land” includes land covered with water, water and water rights.

Additional powers as to acquisition, sale and leasing of land under Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931.

21. —(1) A board of health acting in the execution of the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, may acquire land, either by agreement with the consent of the Minister or compulsorily under the powers conferred by those Acts as amended by this Act, for the purpose of selling or leasing such land or any part thereof to persons and public utility societies with a view to the erection thereon by such persons or societies of cottages suitable for occupation by agricultural labourers.

(2) Where a board of health have under the powers conferred by this section or otherwise, acquired for the purposes of the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, any land, such board may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in those Acts but subject to the consent of the Minister, sell or lease such land or any part thereof to any person or public utility society or, in the case of land acquired by such board under the said Acts otherwise than for the purposes of this section, to any local authority within the meaning of Part III of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, for the purpose and under the condition that such person, society, or local authority shall erect and maintain on such land such number of houses suitable for occupation by agricultural labourers as may be fixed by such board of health and in accordance with plans approved of by such board.

(3) Land sold or leased under this section shall be sold or leased at the best price or rent that can reasonably be obtained for the same having regard to any conditions imposed, and all capital money received in respect of any transaction under this section shall be applied in or towards the purchase of other land for the purposes of the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, as amended by this Act or, with the consent of the Minister, to any purpose, including the repayment of borrowed money, to which capital money may properly be applied.

Expenses under Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931.

22. —On, from and after the 1st day of April, 1933, all expenses incurred or to be incurred by a board of health in the execution of the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, as amended by this Act, shall be raised by means of the poor rate equally over the area of the county health district of such board.

Amendments of Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931 .

23. —(1) Section 14 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931 (No. 50 of 1931), shall have effect as if there were substituted therein for the words “the Minister” the word “themselves.”

(2) Sub-sections (3) and (4) of section 17 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931 , shall have effect as if for the period of six weeks therein mentioned there were substituted the period of three weeks.

(3) Paragraph (c) of sub-section (1) of section 59 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931 , shall have effect as if there were substituted therein for the words “fifty per centum” the words “seventy-five per centum”.