White Fish and Herring Industries Act 1953
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1953 c. 17 |
| Year | 1953 |
White Fish and Herring Industries Act , 1953
(1 & 2 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 17
An Act to provide for the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of grants in respect of the acquisition of new vessels and engines for use in the white fish and herring industries, and of a subsidy in respect of white fish; to extend the power to make loans out of such moneys to the White Fish Authority and the Herring Industry Board, and the power to make grants out of such moneys to that Board for the promotion of the sale of herring and other purposes; and otherwise to amend the enactments relating to the said industries.
[20th May 1953]
Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—
White Fish Industry
1 Grants by the Authority towards new vessels and engines.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this and the next following section, the White Fish Authority may, in accordance with a scheme made by the Ministers with the approval of the Treasury after consultation with the Authority, make to persons engaged or proposing to become engaged in the white fish industry in Great Britain grants in respect of expenditure incurred—
(a ) in the acquisition of new fishing vessels not exceeding one hundred and forty feet in length;
(b ) in the acquisition of new engines for fishing vessels not exceeding one hundred and forty feet in length,
of such amounts and subject to such conditions as may be determined by or under the scheme.
(2) The aggregate amount of the grants which may be made in pursuance of a scheme or schemes under this section shall not exceed nine million pounds; and no grant shall be so made except in pursuance of an application approved by the Authority in accordance with such a scheme before the expiration of the period of ten years beginning with the date of the passing of this Act.
(3) For the purposes of this section a person shall be deemed to be engaged in the white fish industry in Great Britain if he carries on the business of operating one or more vessels registered in Great Britain (of whatever size and in whatever way propelled) for the catching or landing of white fish as defined by section nineteen of the Sea Fish Industry Act, 1951.
(4) Any sums required by the Authority for the payment of grants under this section shall be paid oui of moneys provided by Parliament; and any sums received by the Authority by way of refund of any such grant in accordance with conditions attached thereto shall be paid into the Exchequer.
2 Provisions relating to grants under section one.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the amount of the grant which may be made in pursuance of a scheme under section one of this Act in respect of expenditure incurred in the acquisition of a vessel shall not exceed the following amount, that is to say:—
(a ) where the said expenditure does not exceed twenty thousand pounds and the grant is made to an individual who satisfies the Authority that he is or is to be a working owner of the vessel, three-tenths of the said expenditure or five thousand pounds, whichever is the less;
(b ) in any other case, one-quarter of the said expenditure.
(2) No grant shall be made in pursuance of a scheme under the said section one in respect of expenditure incurred in the acquisition of an engine for a vessel except to an individual who satisfies the Authority that he is or is to be a working owner of the vessel; and the amount of the grant which may be made in respect of any such expenditure shall not exceed three-tenths of that expenditure or one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds, whichever is the less.
(3) Where any expenditure in respect of which a grant may be made in pursuance of a scheme under the said section one is shared by two or more persons, the amount of the grant which may be so made to any one of those persons shall not exceed such fraction of the grant which could be made to him if he had incurred the whole of that expenditure as is proportionate to his actual share of that expenditure.
(4) No grant shall be made in pursuance of a scheme under the said section one in respect of expenditure incurred in the acquisition of a vessel or engine unless the Authority are satisfied that the contract for the building of the vessel, or for the supply of the engine, as the case may be, was made after the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-two.
(5) In this section ‘working owner’, in relation to a vessel, means a person who, being the owner or one of the owners of the vessel, regularly goes to sea in it when it is used for the purpose of fishing.
3 Borrowing by and advances to the Authority.
(1) The limit of fifteen million pounds imposed by subsection (2) of section fifteen of the Sea Fish Industry Act, 1951, upon the outstanding amount of the sums which may be borrowed by the Authority under that subsection shall be raised to twenty-five million pounds.
(2) The limit of ten million pounds imposed by subsection (1) of section seventeen of the said Act upon the outstanding amount of the sums which may be advanced by the Ministers to the Authority under that subsection shall be raised to twenty million pounds.
(3) The period of ten years from the passing of the said Act of 1951 during which—
(a ) sums may be advanced as aforesaid under subsection (1) of the said section seventeen; and
(b ) grants for purposes of research or experiment may be made to the Authority under subsection (2) of that section,
shall be extended until the expiration of ten years after the passing of this Act.
(4) The provisions of subsection (1) of the said section seventeen shall not be construed as extending the powers of the Authority to borrow money under subsection (2) of the said section fifteen.
4 White Fish Marketing Fund.
(1) So much of any sums to be advanced to the White Fish Authority under subsection (1) of section seventeen of the Sea Fish Industry Act, 1951, as is required for the undertaking of operations involving the outlay of working capital shall be paid into a fund (to be called the White Fish Marketing Fund) which shall be established in accordance with directions given by the Treasury and shall be under the control and management of the Ministers.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (4) of the said section seventeen, any sums received by the Ministers by way of repayment of principal of an advance made out of the White Fish Marketing Fund shall, if received before the expiration of the period of ten years beginning with the passing of this Act, be paid into that Fund; but the Ministers may at any time repay out of the said Fund into the Exchequer any sums so paid into that Fund.
(3) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the Ministers and the Treasury that any sum representing the principal of an advance made out of the White Fish Marketing Fund or part of such an advance cannot be repaid, the Treasury may direct that the liability of the Authority to the Ministers shall be reduced to the extent of that sum.
(4) The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries shall prepare, in such form and manner and at such times as the Treasury may direct, an account of the sums received into and paid out of the White Fish Marketing Fund in each financial year.
(5) On or before the thirtieth day of September in each year, the said account and, in a case where the Treasury have directed under subsection (3) of this section that the liability of the Authority to the Ministers shall be reduced, a statement of the reasons for that reduction, shall be transmitted to the Comptroller and Auditor-General, who shall examine and certify the account and lay copies thereof, together with his report thereon, before both Houses of Parliament.
(6) As soon as may be after the expiration of the period of ten years beginning with the date of the passing of this Act, the White Fish Marketing Fund shall be wound up in accordance with directions given by the Treasury, and any sums then standing to the credit thereof shall be paid into the Exchequer.
5 White fish subsidy.
(1) With a view to promoting the landing in the United Kingdom of a continuous and plentiful supply of white fish, the appropriate Minister may, in accordance with a scheme made by the Ministers with the approval of the Treasury, make grants to the owners or charterers of fishing vessels engaged in catching such fish (being vessels not exceeding one hundred and forty feet in length and registered in the United Kingdom) of such amounts, and subject to such conditions, as may be determined by or under the scheme.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, a scheme made thereunder may provide for the payment of grants in the case of any vessel, in respect of white fish landed in the United Kingdom from the vessel during a period prescribed by the scheme or in respect of voyages made during such a period by the vessel for the purpose of catching such fish and landing them in the United Kingdom or in respect of white fish so landed and of voyages so made; but no such grant shall be made—
(a ) in respect of a voyage beyond the inshore, near and middle waters as defined by this section; or
(b ) in respect of fish taken (whether within those waters or not) in the course of such a voyage.
(3) The period prescribed for the purposes of subsection (2) of this section by any scheme made thereunder shall not extend beyond the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, and shall not in the case of the first such scheme exceed two years.
(4) The aggregate...
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