Milk (Regulation of Supply and Price)(Amendment) Act , 1941

1 Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act the expression “the Principal Act” means the Milk (Regulation of Supply and Price) Act, 1936 (No. 43 of 1936).

(2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Principal Act, and accordingly every expression and word to which a particular meaning is given by the Principal Act for the purposes of that Act shall, in and for the purposes of this Act, have the meaning so given.

(3) References in this Act to any provision of the Principal Act which is amended by this Act shall in this Act be construed as references to that provision as so amended.

2 Construction of references in the Principal Act and this Act to the sale of milk.

2.—References in the Principal Act and this Act to the sale of milk shall be construed as not including references to—

(a) any milk which—

(i) is sold by a person who is not registered in a register kept by a board, and

(ii) is sold otherwise than for human consumption in the form of milk, or

(b) any milk of his own production sold by a person who does not in any one day sell more than two gallons of such milk, or

(c) any milk supplied by an employer to an employee, in pursuance of the terms of a contract of service which provides that milk is to be supplied free to the employee, or

(d) any milk sold to a person who is the registered proprietor, within the meaning of the Dairy Produce Acts, 1924 to 1941, of premises registered under the said Acts, or the holder of a licence from the Minister under the Creamery Act, 1928 (No. 26 of 1928), or

(e) any milk which—

(i) is sold by a person who is not registered in a register kept by a board, and

(ii) is sold for consumption on the premises of such person.

3 Amendment of section 6 of the Principal Act.

3.—(1) Section 6 of the Principal Act is hereby amended in the following respects and shall be construed and have effect accordingly, that is to say:—

(a) by the deletion in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of the said section of the words “which may or may not include the whole or any” now contained therein and the substitution therefor of the words “which shall either be co-terminous with or include a”, and

(b) by the deletion in paragraph (d) of sub-section (1) of the said section of the words “a retailer and a wholesaler respectively” now contained therein and the substitution therefor of the words “a wholesaler”, and

(c) by the insertion in paragraph (e) of sub-section (1) of the said section of the following clause in lieu of clause (ii) now contained therein, that is to say:—

“(ii) such board shall consist of a specified number of producer members and a specified number of retailer members,” and

(d) by the deletion in sub-section (4) of the said section of the words “the expression ‘retailer’ when used in relation to a sale district means a person who is a retailer as defined in the milk (joint district) order which relates to such sale district;”.

(2) So much of sub-section (4) of section 6 of the Principal Act as defines the expressions “the associated sale district” and “the associated production district” is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that in the Principal Act and this Act—

(a) the expression “the associated sale district” shall mean—

(i) when used in relation to a production district, the sale district which is co-terminous with or forms part of such production district, and

(ii) when used in relation to a joint district, the sale district which is co-terminous with or forms part of such joint district,

(b) the expression “the associated production district” shall mean—

(i) when used in relation to a sale district, the production district which is co-terminous with or includes such sale district,

(ii) when used in relation to a joint district, the production district which is co-terminous with such joint district.

(3) Whenever the Minister makes an order (in this sub-section referred to as the revocation order) under sub-section (3) of section 6 of the Principal Act, revoking a milk (joint district) order, the Minister shall by the revocation order fix the date on which it is to come into operation and the date so fixed shall not be earlier than the fourteenth day after the date on which the revocation order is made.

4 Provisions consequential on an order revoking a milk (joint district) order.

4.—Whenever the Minister makes, under sub-section (3) of section 6 of the Principal Act, an order (in this section referred to as the revocation order) revoking a milk (joint district) order, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the board (in this sub-section referred to as the abolished board) for the joint (sale and supply) district to which such milk (joint district) order relates shall, on the day (in this section referred to as the dissolution date) on which the revocation order comes into operation, be dissolved and cease to exist;

(b) the areas declared by such milk (joint district) order to be respectively a sale district, a production district and a joint (sale and supply) district for the purposes of Part II of the Principal Act shall, on the dissolution date, cease to be a sale district, a production district and a joint (sale and supply) district respectively for the said purposes;

(c) the persons who were, immediately before the dissolution date, registered in the register of producers, the registers of retailers, and the registers of wholesalers (if any) kept by the abolished board shall on the dissolution date cease to be registered producers, registered retailers and registered wholesalers for the purposes of Part II of the Principal Act;

(d) all property, whether real or personal (including choses-in-action), which immediately before the dissolution date was vested in or belonged to the abolished board and all rights, powers, and privileges relating to or connected with such property shall, on the dissolution date and without any conveyance or assignment, but subject where necessary to transfer in the books of any bank, corporation or company, become and be vested or the property of the Minister for all the estate, term, or interest for which the same immediately before the dissolution date was vested in or belonged to the abolished board;

(e) all property transferred by paragraph (d) of this section, which immediately before the dissolution date, was standing in the books of any bank or is registered in the books of any bank, corporation, or company, shall, upon the request of the Minister made on or after the dissolution date, be transferred in such books by such bank, corporation or company into the name of the Minister;

(f) on and after the dissolution date, every chose-in-action transferred by paragraph (d) of this section to the Minister may be sued upon, recovered or enforced by the Minister in his corporate name, and it shall not be necessary for the Minister to give notice to the person bound by such chose-in-action of the transfer effected by the said paragraph (d);

(g) every debt and other liability (including unliquidated liabilities arising from torts or breaches of contract) which immediately before the dissolution date is owing and unpaid or has been incurred and is undischarged by the abolished board shall, on the dissolution date, become and be the debt of the Minister and shall be paid or discharged by and may be recovered from or enforced against the Minister accordingly;

(h) in every action, suit or proceeding which is pending on the dissolution date in any court and to which the abolished board is a party, the Minister shall on the dissolution date become and be a party in the place of the abolished board and such proceeding shall be continued between the Minister and the other parties thereto accordingly and-no such proceeding shall abate or be discontinued or prejudicially affected by reason of the dissolution of the abolished board;

(i) all books and other documents directed or authorised by or under the Principal Act to be kept or made by the abolished board and which immediately before the dissolution date, would be receivable in evidence shall, notwithstanding the dissolution of the abolished board, be admitted in evidence as fully as if the abolished board had not been dissolved;

(j) any levy payable under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 41 of the Principal Act to the abolished board for any accounting period in respect of the abolished board ending before the dissolution date shall, if not paid before the dissolution date to the abolished board, be payable to the Minister, and for the purposes of enabling such levy to be assessed and collected, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(i) the foregoing paragraphs of this section shall be deemed not to have been enacted,

(ii) in the application of the said section 41 to the abolished board, every mention of or reference to the board for a joint district in the said section 41 shall, on and after the dissolution date,—

(I) in relation to anything done under such section before the dissolution date, be construed as a mention of or a reference to the abolished board,

(II) in relation to anything done or required or permitted to be done under the said section on or after the dissolution date, be construed and have effect as a mention of or a reference to the Minister;

(k) the Minister shall convert into money any property (other than money) transferred to him by this section, and may for this purpose sell any such property;

(l) the Minister may surrender any land, held under lease or a tenancy, transferred to him by this section;

(m) any moneys representing property transferred to the Minister by this section remaining in the hands of the Minister, after discharging the liabilities transferred to him by this section and any expenses incurred under this section shall be applied by the Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, in such manner as he thinks fit for the purposes of agriculture and other rural industries within or in connection with the area comprised in the production district to which such milk (joint district) order relates.

5 Publication of milk (joint district) orders.

5.—Whenever the Minister makes an Order under section 6 of the Principal Act he shall publish notice of the making of such order in the Iris Oifigiúil.

6 Amendment of section 12 of the Principal Act.

6.—Sub-section (1) of section 12 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion in paragraphs (b) and (c) of the said sub-section of the words “from amongst their number”, and the said sub-section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

7 Amendment of section 14 of the Principal Act.

7.—Paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section 14 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of words “until the day following” now contained therein and the substitution for the words so deleted of the words “until the expiration of” and the said sub-section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

8 Provisions in relation to election of ordinary members.

8.—(1) Where a person, who is entitled to vote at an election of producer members of a board, is registered in respect of more than one premises in the register of producers kept by such board, such person shall be entitled to one vote only at such election.

(2) Where a person, who is entitled to vote at an election of retailer members of a board, is registered in respect of more than one premises in the register of retailers kept by such board, such person shall be entitled to one vote only at such election.

(3) Where a person, who is entitled to vote at an election of wholesaler members of a board, is registered in respect of more than one premises in the register of wholesalers kept by such board, such person shall be entitled to one vote only at such election.

(4) Where—

(a) a person is elected an ordinary member of a board at an election (in this sub-section referred to as the first election) of a particular class of ordinary members of such board and

(b) such person is nominated as a candidate at an election (in this sub-section referred to as the other election) of another class of ordinary members of such board held at the same time as the first election,

any votes cast for such person at the subsequent election shall be disregarded.

(5) As soon as may be after an election of any class of ordinary members of a board for a joint district such board shall cause to be published in the Iris Oifigiúil the names of the persons elected at such election.

9 Amendment of section 15 of the Principal Act.

9.—Sub-section (2) of section 15 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion therefrom of all words from the words “or in case he is a retailer member” to the words “the register of wholesalers kept by such board”, and the said sub-section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

10 Amendment of section 16 of the Principal Act.

10.—Sub-section (1) of section 16 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion therefrom of all words from the words “or, in case such ordinary member was a retailer member” to the words “the register of wholesalers kept by such board”, and the said sub-section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

11 Amendment of section 17 of the Principal Act.

11.—Section 17 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion therefrom of all words from the words “or, in case such ordinary member was a retailer member” to the words “the register of wholesalers kept by such board”, and the said section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

12 Amendment of section 31 of the Principal Act.

12.—Section 31 of the Principal Act is hereby amended in the following respects and shall be construed and have effect accordingly, that is to say:—

(a) by the deletion in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of the said section of the words “ending on” now contained therein and the substitution for the words so deleted of the words “ending next before”, and

(b) by the deletion in sub-section (2) of the said section of the words “of a retailer” now contained therein and the substitution for the words so deleted of the words “of selling milk”, and

(c) by the deletion in sub-section (3) of the words “or proposes to carry on”, and

(d) by the deletion in sub-section (4) of the said section of the words and figures “is registered in a register kept by a local authority in pursuance of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts, 1878 and 1886 or”.

13 Registration in respect of temporary pasturage.

13.—Where a person who is registered in respect of any premises in the register of producers kept by a board for a joint district takes temporarily any land in such joint district for pasturage, such person may notify such board of the taking of such land by him and thereupon any milk produced on such land shall be deemed, for the purposes of the Principal Act, to have been produced on such premises.

14 Amendment of section 33 of the Principal Act.

14.—Sub-section (1) of section 33 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of the words “who is entitled” now contained therein, and the substitution therefor of the words “who satisfies such board that he is entitled”, and the said sub-section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

15 Right to registration in register of producers kept by the Dublin Milk Board, and restriction on sale of milk by persons registered under this section.

15.—(1) Any person who—

(a) is the owner of premises which are situate outside the Dublin Production District and are registered in any of the registers kept under the Dairy Produce Act, 1924 (No. 58 of 1924), and

(b) is certified by the Minister to have, during the period commencing on the 18th day of November, 1939, and ending on the 2nd day of December, 1939, complied with any direction given by the Minister or any person authorised by the Minister, to deliver milk for re-sale in the Dublin Sale District, and

(c) is, at the date of the passing of this Act, or becomes, not later than two months after the said date, registered in respect of such premises in the register of dairymen kept by a sanitary authority in pursuance of Part II of the Milk and Dairies Act, 1935 (No. 22 of 1935),

may apply to the board for the joint district which includes the Dublin Sale District to be registered in the register of producers in respect of such premises, and on receipt of such application such board shall enter in the said register of producers the name and address of the applicant and particulars of such premises.

(2) It shall not be lawful for any person, who is registered, in pursuance of sub-section (1) of this section, in the register of producers kept by the board for the joint district which includes the Dublin Sale District, to sell, in the Dublin Sale District, in any period of twelve months commencing on the date on which such person was so registered or commencing on any anniversary of that date, a quantity of milk exceeding the quantity fixed by the Minister in respect of that person.

(3) If any person acts in contravention of sub-section (2) of this section such person shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to the penalties mentioned in the Schedule to the Principal Act.

(4) In this section—

the expression “the Dublin Production District” means the area consisting of the county borough of Dublin, and the administrative counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and Louth;

the expression “the Dublin Sale District” means the area consisting of the county borough of Dublin, the administrative county of Dublin and the urban district of Bray.

16 Amendment of section 35 of the Principal Act.

16.—Paragraph (d) of sub-section (4) of section 35 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of the words “between the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon”, and the said section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

17 Amendment of section 37 of the Principal Act.

17.—Sub-section (1) of section 37 of the Principal Act is hereby amended in the following respects and the said section shall be construed and have effect accordingly, that is to say:—

(a) by the insertion in paragraph (b) of the said sub-section of the words “and open” after the word “examine”; and

(b) by the insertion at the end of the said sub-section of the following paragraph, that is to say:—