Corn Production Act 1917
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1917 c. 46 |
Corn Production Act, 1917.
(7 & 8 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 46.
An Act for encouraging the production of Corn, and for purposes connected therewith (including provision as to Agricultural Wages and Rents).
[21st August 1917]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Part I.
Minimum Price of Wheat and Oats .
1 Payments to growers where average price of wheat or oats is less than minimum.
1. If the average price for the wheat or oats of any year for which a minimum price is fixed under this Act, as ascertained for the purpose of this Part of this Act, is less than the minimum price as fixed by this Act, the occupier of any land on which wheat or oats have been produced in that year shall be entitled to be paid by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in respect of each acre on which he proves to the satisfaction of the Board that wheat or oats have been so produced, a sum equal in the case of wheat to four times, and in the case of oats to five times, the difference between the average price and the minimum price per quarter:
Provided that—
2 Minimum price and average price.
(1) The following minimum prices shall be fixed for the wheat and oats of the following years:—
| Crop for Year | wheat Price, per quarter. | Oats Price, per quarter. |
| 1917 | 60 s. | 38 s. 6 d. |
|
1918 1919 |
55 s. | 32 s. |
|
1920 1921 1922 |
45 s. | 24 s. |
(2) The average price for the wheat or oats of any year shall for the purposes of this Part of this Act be taken to be the average price for the seven months beginning on the first day of September in that year ascertained by adding together the weekly averages of the weeks included in those seven months, and dividing the total by the number of weeks.
For the purposes of this provision, the weekly averages for any week shall be taken to be the average price per quarter for that week of wheat or oats, as the case may be, ascertained in accordance with the Corn Returns Act, 1882 .
(3) The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries shall, as soon as may be after the end of March in any year, cause the average price of wheat and oats for the preceding year, as ascertained under this section, to be published in the London Gazette.
3 Claims for payment.
(1) The person who was, on the first day of September in the year in which the wheat or oats were produced, the occupier of the land on which they were produced shall be deemed to be the occupier entitled to receive any payments under this Part of this Act:
Provided that when there has been any change in the occupation of the land on which the wheat or oats were produced, then—
(a ) if the outgoing tenant is under any custom or otherwise entitled to harvest any wheat or oats grown on the land, the outgoing tenant shall in lieu of the incoming tenant or the landlord be entitled to receive any payments under this Part of this Act in respect of the wheat or oats; and
(b ) if the outgoing tenant is under any custom or otherwise entitled to receive compensation from his landlord or the incoming tenant in respect of the wheat or oats as for an away-going crop or otherwise, the right of the landlord or incoming tenant to receive payments under this Part of this Act in respect of the wheat or oats shall be taken into account in the assessment of the compensation so payable.
(2) All claims for payments under this Part of this Act shall be made to and determined by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in accordance with regulations made under this Act, and the decision of the Board shall be final and conclusive for all purposes:
Provided that if at any time it is found that a payment has been obtained, or payment in excess of the amount properly payable has been obtained, by means of any false statement or false representation, the person to whom the payment was made shall, without prejudice to any criminal liability in respect of any false statement or false representation, be liable to pay the Board the amount of such payment or excess, and any such amount may, without prejudice to the recovery thereof as a debt due to the Crown, be recovered by the Board summarily as a civil debt.
(3) If for the purpose of obtaining a payment under this Part of this Act, either for himself or for any other person, any person makes any false statement or false representation, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, unless he proves that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained that the statement or representation was false.
Part II.
Agricultural Workmen (Minimum Wage) .
4 Minimum rate for agricultural wages.
(1) Any person who employs a workman in agriculture shall pay wages to the workman at a rate not less than the minimum rate as fixed under this Act and applicable to the case, and if he fails to do so, shall be liable on summary conviction in respect of each offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and to a fine not exceeding one pound for each day on which the offence is continued after conviction therefor:
Provided that such a person shall not be liable to be so convicted if he proves that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained that the wages paid were less than the wages required under this Act to be paid.
(2) In any proceedings against an employer under this section the court may, whether there is a convictton or not, order the employer to pay, in addition to the fine, if any, such sum as appears to the court to be due to the workman employed on account of wages, the wages being calculated at the minimum rate; but the power to order the payment of wages under this provision shall not be in derogation of any right of the workman to recover wages by any other proceedings.
(3) Any agreement for the payment of wages in contravention of this section, or for abstaining to exercise any right of enforcing the payment of wages in accordance with this section, shall be void.
(4) The provisions of this section as to payment of wages at a minimum rate shall operate as respects able-bodied men as from the commencement of this Act (although a minimum rate of wages may not have been fixed), but only so as to enable any sum which would have been payable under this section to an able-bodied man on account of wages for time-work if a minimum rate for able-bodied men had been fixed to be recovered by the workman from his employer at any time not exceeding three months after the rate is fixed:
Provided that no sum shall be recoverable under this provision except in a case in which and to the extent to which the wages paid have not, in the opinion of the court, been equivalent to wages for an ordinary day's work at the rate of twenty-five shillings a week.
5 Establishment of Wages Board.
(1) The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries shall, as soon as may be and after consultation with the Minister of Labour, establish an Agricultural Wages Board; and such of the provisions of the Trade Boards Act, 1909 , as are set out (with modifications) in the First Schedule to this Act shall be deemed to be incorporated in this Part of this Act.
(2) The Agricultural Wages Board shall fix minimum rates of wages for workmen employed in agriculture for time-work, and may also, if and so far as they think it necessary or expedient, fix minimum rates of wages for workmen employed in agriculture for piece-work.
(3) Any such minimum rates may be fixed so as to apply universally to workmen employed in agriculture, or to any special class of workmen in agriculture, or to any special area, or to any special class in a special area, subject in each case to any exceptions which may be made by the Agricultural Wages Board for employment of any special character, and so as to vary according as the employment is for a day, week, month, or other period, or according to the number of working hours or the conditions of the employment, or so as to provide for a differential rate in the case of overtime:
Provided that if the Agricultural Wages Board are satisfied that any workman employed or desiring to be employed on time-work to which a minimum rate fixed by the Board is applicable is affected by any mental or other infirmity or physical injury which renders him incapable of earning that minimum rate, the Board may grant to the workman, subject to such conditions, if any, as they prescribe, a permit exempting the employment of the workman from the provisions of this Act requiring wages to be paid at not less than the minimum rate, and while the permit is in force an employer shall not be liable to any penalty for paying wages to the workman at a rate less than the minimum rate so long as any conditions prescribed by the Board on the grant of the permit are complied with.
(4) Before fixing any minimum rate of wages, the Agricultural Wages Board shall give notice of the rate...
To continue reading
Request your trial