Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972

Control of zoonoses

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Application of provisions of Diseases of Animals Act 1950 to further animals

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• (1) In paragraph (a) of the proviso to section 84(1) of the Diseases of Animals Act 1950 (which enables the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly by order to extend the definition of animals in that Act so as to include any four-footed beasts not already mentioned in the definition), for the words " any other kind of four-footed beasts " there shall be substituted the words " any kind of mammal, except man, and any kind of four-footed beast which is not a mammal " , and after that paragraph there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

(aa) the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly may, for all or any of the purposes of this Act (except so far as it relates to disease), by order extend this definition so that it shall, for those purposes or any of them, comprise fish, reptiles, crustaceans or other cold-blooded creatures of any species, not being creatures in respect of which an order can be made under the preceding paragraph

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• (2) The enactments and instruments with respect to which provision may be made by Order in Council by virtue of section 1(1)(h) of the Hovercraft Act 1968 shall include the said Act of 1950 as amended by the preceding subsection and any instrument made under that Act as so amended.

Seizure of milk etc. liable to spread disease

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In section 13 of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1963 (which among other things provides for the seizure and disposal of carcases and other things including eggs with a view to preventing the spread of certain diseases and for the payment in certain cases of compensation for things seized} after the word “eggs” in subsection (1) there shall be inserted the words “milk, skim milk, whey, buttermilk, cream”.

Furnishing by milk marketing boards of information derived from tests of milk

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Repeal and amendment of certain enactments relating to slaughterhouses in England and Wales

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Repeal and amendment of enactments relating to slaughterhouses in Scotland

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Amendment of Slaughter of Animals (Scotland) Acts etc.

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• (1) For section 1 of the Slaughter of Animals (Scotland) Act 1928 there shall be substituted the following section—

(1) (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, no animal shall, in a slaughterhouse or knacker's yard, be slaughtered otherwise than instantaneously by means of a mechanically-operated instrument in proper repair unless— (a) by stunning, effected by means of a mechanically-operated instrument or an instrument for stunning by means of electricity, being in either case an instrument in proper repair, it is instantaneously rendered insensible to pain until death supervenes; or (b) by such other means as may be prescribed, it is rendered insensible to pain until death supervenes, and there are complied with such conditions (if any) as respects the use of those means as may be prescribed. In this subsection " prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State after consultation with such organisations as appear to him to represent the interests concerned. (2) Regulations under this section may make— (a) provision as respects all animals or any class of animals; (b) different provision as respects different classes of animals and as respects different classes of slaughterhouses or knackers' yards; and (c) such incidental or consequential provision as may appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations, including, in particular, in a case where a condition as respects the use of any means of rendering an animal insensible to pain consists in the giving of approval to any matter by a local authority, provision for securing a right of appeal to the sheriff against a withholding or withdrawal of approval. (3) The power to make regulations under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

• (2) The Slaughter of Animals (Scotland) Acts 1928 to 1954 shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in Schedule 2 to this Act (being amendments consequential on the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, or of a minor nature).

• (3) It shall be the duty of every local authority to execute and enforce within their district the provisions of the Slaughter of Animals (Scotland) Acts 1928 to 1954 and of any regulations made thereunder; but this subsection shall not be construed as authorising a local authority to institute proceedings for any offence.

• (4) For the purposes of any regulations made under section 13 of the Food and Drugs (Scotland) Act 1956 (regulations as to food hygiene) in respect of any premises to which the Slaughter of Animals (Scotland) Acts 1928 to 1954 apply, the provisions of section 36 of the said Act of 1956 (power to enter premises) shall apply in relation to an authorised officer of the Secretary of State as they apply in relation to an authorised officer of the local authority who are empowered to enforce those regulations so far as they apply to such premises.

Amendment of law relating to improvement of live stock

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• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendments as to grants and loans in connection with alterations of farm structure

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• (1) Part II of the Agriculture Act 1967 (grants and loans in connection with alterations in farm structure) shall have effect with the amendments specified in subsections (2) to (6) of this section.

• (2) In section 26—

• (a) in subsection (1)—

• (i) for the words preceding paragraph (a) there shall be substituted the words “The appropriate Minister may in accordance with a scheme and subject to section 50 of the Agriculture Act 1970 make, out of money provided by Parliament, grants of amounts determined in such manner as may be provided by or under the scheme in connection with the carrying out of any of the following transactions approved by him in pursuance of that scheme, that is to say—” ;

• (ii) after paragraph (b) there shall be inserted—

(bb) transactions securinf that, where the person occupying an intermediate unit or a commercial unit occupies any part or parts of it otherwise than as owner or as a tenant as defined in the Agricultural Holdings Act 1948 (or, in Scotland, the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1949), he comes to occupy that part or all those parts as owner or as such a tenant, and

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• (iii) at the end of subsection (2) there shall be inserted the words “or, as respects transactions within subsection (1)(bb) of this section, cases where after the transaction has been effected the unit is not in single ownership” ;

• (c) subsections (3) and (5) shall be omitted ;

• (d) in subsection (6)—

• (i) for the words preceding paragraph (a) there shall be substituted the words “Any approval in pursuance of a scheme under this section of an amalgamation or boundary adjustment—” ;

• (ii) in paragraph (a) the words “the expenditure has been incurred or” shall be omitted.

• (3) In section 27—

• (a) in subsection (1) in the words preceding paragraph (a) for the words “relinquishes his occupation of an uncommercial unit” there shall be substituted the words “relinquishes his occupation of, or of part of, an uncommercial unit” ;

• (b) after subsection (5A) there shall be inserted—

(5B) A scheme made by virtue of subsection (1)(a) or (b) of this section may make provision whereby a person is treated for the purposes of the scheme, to such extent and in such cases as may be prescribed— (a) as the occupier of any land in respect of which he has granted, or agreed to grant, to another person a licence or tenancy of a kind not making that other person a renant as defined in the Agricultural Holdings Act 1948 (or, in Scotland, the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1949) ; (b) as relinquishing his occupation of that land if he relinquishes his remaining estate or interest in the land ; (c) as relinquishing his occupation of, or of part of, an uncommercial unit of agricultural land if the land was, or was partof, such a unit immediately before he first granted or agreed togrant such a licence or tenancy as aforesaid ; and, in relation to any provision made by virtue of this subsection, subsections (2), (4) and (5A) of this section shall not apply but provision may be made in this scheme for corresponding purposes.

• (4) In section 28(1) for paragraph (a) there shall be substituted—

(a) the costs of the amalgamation or boundary adjustment consisting of surveyor’s fees and legal costs, stamp duty on any conveyance lease, tenancy agreement or mortgage or heritable security and any compensation for disturbance under section 34 of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1948 or section 35 of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1949, or (aa) expenditure incurredin the carrying out or provision of works or facilities which the appropriate Minister considers to be necessary or desirable as a consequence of the amalgamation, or to be necessary as a consequence of the boundary adjustment, or

; and for the words “or expenditure under both paragraphs (a) and (b) above” there shall be substituted the words “or expenditure under all or any two of paragraphs (a), (aa) and (b) above”.

• (5) In section 39 (application to Northern Ireland) after subsection (5) there shall be inserted—

(5A) Sections 26(1)(bb) and 27(5B) of this Act shall, in their application to Northern Ireland, have effect as if references to a tenant as defined in the Acts there mentioned were references to a tenant who holds under a contract of tenancy for a life or lives for a term of years.

• (6) In section 40(3) (uncommercial unit not to include dwelling houses) after the words “exclusive of any one dwelling house of the unit” there shall be inserted the words “or of an area sufficient to provide a site for one dwelling house”.

• (7) In section 50 of the Agriculture Act 1970 (which among other things precludes the making of certain grants to smallholdings authorities under schemes made under section 26 of the said Act of 1967 unless an application for the grant has been made within five years from the date when the scheme comes into operation) for the words “within five years from the date when the scheme comes into operation” there shall be substituted the words “before the end of 1975”.

• (8) Any scheme made by virtue of section 26 of the said Act of 1967 as that section had effect before the passing of this Act shall (without prejudice to its variation or revocation by a subsequent scheme) continue to have effect as if this Act had not been passed.

• (9) Sections 26(1) to (6) and 28(1) of the said Act of 1967 as amended by this section are set out in Schedule 4 to this Act.

Conditions applicable to land where amalgamation or boundary adjustment has been assisted by a grant or loan

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• (1) Subsections (7) and (8) of section 26 of the Agriculture Act 1967 (which apply the conditions in Schedule 3 to that Act to agricultural units where certain grants have been paid) shall not apply in relation to the payment of—

• (a) any grant under a scheme made under that section or section 27 of that Act after the passing of this Act; or

• (b) any grant under section 29 of the Agriculture Act 1970 in respect of any work or facility certified under the said section 26 in connection with an amalgamation or boundary adjustment approved under any scheme made under the said section 26 after the passing of this Act.

• (2) Where, by reason of the payment of a grant under a scheme made under the said section 27 before the passing of this Act, any land became subject to the provisions of the said Schedule 3, that land shall cease to be subject to those provisions if, by virtue of transitional provisions in a scheme made under that section after the passing of this Act, the approval in consequence of which the grant was paid falls to be treated as if given under the latter scheme.

• (3) Subsections (6) and (7) of section 28 of the said Act of 1967 (which apply the conditions in the said Schedule 3 to agricultural units where loans or guarantees have been made or given under that section) shall not apply in relation to any loan or guarantee in connection with an amalgamation or boundary adjustment approved under a scheme made under the said section 26 after the passing of this Act or treated by virtue of transitional provisions in such a scheme as approved thereunder.

• (4) In making a grant under the said section 26 the appropriate Minister may impose such conditions as he thinks fit; and any such conditions, and any conditions imposed under section 28(5) of the said Act of 1967 or section 29(3) of the said Act of 1970, may require the recipient of the grant or loan, or the person whose indebtedness is guaranteed, to make such payments or repayments to the appropriate Minister in such circumstances as may be specified in the conditions.

• (5) Paragraph 1 of the said Schedule 3 (duration of conditions imposed by that Schedule) shall have effect, and be deemed always to have had effect, with the substitution for the words “fifteen years” of the words “five years”.

Grants for farm improvements

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Payments into and out of Agricultural Marketing Funds, and abolition of Marketing Facilities Committees

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• (1) If the Minister considers that the sums standing to the credit of the Agricultural Marketing Fund should be reduced, he may pay such sums as he thinks fit out of that Fund into the Consolidated Fund; and if the Secretary of State considers that the sums standing to the credit of the Agricultural Marketing (Scotland) Fund should be reduced, he may pay such sums as he thinks fit out of that Fund into the Consolidated Fund:

• (2) The limits imposed by subsection (3) of section 22 of the Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 on the sums which may be paid put of money provided by Parliiament into the Marketing Funds mentioned in the preceding subsection are hereby abolished; and accordingly for paragraphs (a) and (b) of the said subsection (3) (which provide that sums payable out of money so provided into each of those funds shall not in the aggregate exceed the difference between £500,000 in the case of the English Fund and £125,000 in the case of the Scottish fund and the sums paid into the fund in question under section 11(2) of the Agricultural Marketing Act 1931) there shall be substituted the words “into the English fund and the Scottish fund repectively such sums”.

• (3) Section 23 of the Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 (which provides for the appointment of Agricultural Marketing Facilities Committees for England and Wales, for Scotland and for Great Britain) shall cease to have effect; and accordingly—

• (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (b) in section 24(4) of that Act for the words from “renewal is recommended” to “they are” there shall be substituted the words “Minister is” and in section 53(5) of that Act after the words “consumers’ committees” there shall be inserted the word “and” ; ...

• (c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Increase in advances to Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Ltd

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Increase of fines

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Arbitrations under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1948

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Levies on processers of and dealers in home-grown cereals

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Abolition of requirements that dealings and returns relating to corn must be in hundredweights

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• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (2) The Minister may as respects England and Wales, and the Secretary of State may as respects Scotland, provide by order made by statutory instrument that sections 8 and 9(6) of the Corn Returns Act 1882 (which respectively require that computations of corn in returns under that Act shall be in hundredweights and that the annual and septennial average price published in pursuance of that Act shall be for a hundredweight of corn) shall have effect as if for any reference to the hundredweight of one hundred and twelve imperial standard pounds there were substituted a reference to another weight prescribed by the order; and an order under this subsection may—

• (a) make such modifications of section 9(4) and (5) of that Act as the authority making the order considers are appropriate in consequence of any other provision made by the order or by another order under this subsection;

• (b) be varied or revoked by a subsequent order under this subsection.

Power to obtain agricultural statistics by means of notices

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Section 78(1) of the Agriculture Act 1947 shall have effect with the following amendments (which replace provisions authorising the making, after consultation with the relevant advisory committee established in pursuance of section 77 of that Act, of regulations with respect to the service of notices requiring the furnishing of information relating to agriculture by provisions authorising the service of such notices) that is to say—

• (a) for the words from “after consultation” to “of notices requiring them” there shall be substituted the words “serve on any owners or occupiers of land used for agriculture, or of land which the Minister has reason to believe may be so used, notices requiring them”; and

• (b) for the word “prescribed” where it first occurs there shall be substituted the words “specified in the notice” and for the words “prescribed information” in both places where they occur there shall be substituted the words “information referred to in the notice”; and

• (c) the words from “and regulations” to “be prescribed” shall be omitted;

and accordingly section 77 of that Act shall cease to have effect and the committees mentioned in that section are hereby abolished.

Use of poison against grey squirrels and coypus

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