Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.
I beg to move, in Sub-section (3), after the word "years," to insert the words
in respect of freehold land, thirty years in respect of leasehold land (but not exceeding the period of the lease if such period is less than thirty years), forty years in respect of high-tension trunk transmission lines, twenty-five years in respect of Overhead lines and mains and services, twenty years in respect of plant and machinery, and ten years in respect of any other assets.
In Committee, originally, it was proposed to leave this period entirely unlimited, except at the discretion of the Electricity Commissioners. The Minister in charge was good enough to allow 60 years all round. That period, I think, is quite fair in respect of freehold land and even such fixed assets as permanent structures, but I think it is not quite wise to leave the borrowing powers of these huge authorities unfettered in the discretion of the Electricity Commissioners, and that we should put some reasonable limit to certain classes of wasting assets. The object of this Amendment is to secure a very adequate limit in respect of different classes of assets, and in no way to hamper the authorities, hut to make sure that in the future these authorities will not be authorised to borrow on very long terms, so that, perhaps, 15 years afterwards, the people who are then using electricity find that they have an asset which has largely wasted for revenue, and have to raise capital again, although there is still an unexpired term of 45 years during which they have to hear the burden of the capital already acquired.