S.I. No. 318/1952:

COMMITTEES OF AGRICULTURE (OFFICERS' TRAVELLING EXPENSES AND MAINTENANCE ALLOWANCE AND EXPENSES) REGULATIONS, 1952.

COMMITTEES OF AGRICULTURE (OFFICERS' TRAVELLING EXPENSES AND MAINTENANCE ALLOWANCE AND EXPENSES) REGULATIONS, 1952.

I, THOMAS WALSH, Minister for Agriculture, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 28 of the Agriculture Act, 1931 (No. 8 of 1931), and of every and any other power me in this behalf enabling, hereby make the following regulations :--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Committees of Agriculture (Officers' Travelling Expenses and Maintenance Allowance and Expenses) Regulations, 1952.

2. The Interpretation Act, 1937 (No. 38 of 1937), applies to these Regulations.

3. The allowance of travelling and maintenance expenses to officers of committees of agriculture who have to travel in the performance of their duties and the rates of such travelling and maintenance expenses shall, in the cases specified in the Schedule hereto, be in accordance with the provisions of that Schedule.

4. The Committees of Agriculture (Officers' Travelling Expenses and Maintenance Allowance and Expenses) Regulations, 1947 (S. R. & O., No. 349 of 1947), are hereby revoked.

SCHEDULE.

TRAVELLING EXPENSES AND MAINTENANCE ALLOWANCE AND MAINTENANCE EXPENSES OF OFFICERS OF COMMITTEES OF AGRICULTURE.

PART I.

PRELIMINARY.

1. In this Schedule--

the expression " the Minister " means the Minister for Agriculture ;

the word " committee " means a committee of agriculture ;

the expression " the county " means, in relation to a committee, the county in respect of which such committee is the committee, and

the expressions " within the county " and " outside the county " shall be construed accordingly ;

the expression " district " means, in relation to an officer of a committee, the part of the county assigned by a committee to such officer for the performance of his official duties ;

the word " existing " in relation to an officer of a committee means a person who is an officer of a committee on the date of the making of these regulations.

PART II.

TRAVELLING EXPENSES.

2.--(1) Every committee shall, subject to the provisions of this paragraph, pay to each of its officers, in respect of all necessary travelling within the county done by him in the course of his duties as such officer, travelling expenses at the rates fixed by this Part of this Schedule.

(2) Each committee shall in each year fix in respect of each one of its officers the sum which, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, appears to the committee to be the maximum amount of travelling expenses which it would be reasonable for the officer to incur in that year.

(3) The total amount of travelling expenses paid under this paragraph to any officer in respect of travelling in any year shall not exceed, without the consent in writing of the Minister, the maximum amount fixed under subparagraph (2) of this paragraph.

3. Travelling expenses, at the rates fixed by this Schedule, may be paid by a committee to its officers in respect of necessary travelling by the officers outside the county in the course of or in connection with the duties of such officers, if, in the opinion of the committee, such expenses should be paid, and if the Minister approves in writing of such payments being made by the committee.

4. The rates at which travelling expenses shall be paid by a commttee to its officers in respect of necessary travelling by the officer whether within the county or outside the county shall be as follows, that is to say--

(a) the actual railway fare expended by the officer on such class as is approved by the committee and the Minister, or the actual omnibus fare expended by the officer, and

(b) a rate of two pence per mile in respect of the use of a pedal cycle or a motor-assisted pedal cycle or a pedal-assisted motor-cycle, and

(c) a rate of three pence per mile in respect of the use of a motor-cycle without a side-car, and

(d) a rate of four pence per mile in respect of the use of a motor-cycle and side-car, and

(e) a rate of six pence per mile in respect of the use of a motor-car of which the horse-power is less than ten, and

( f ) a rate of seven pence per mile in respect of the use of a motor-car of not less than ten horse-power, and

(g) the amount paid for hire of a conveyance where the hire is justified by special circumstances and subject to such directions as may be given by a committee to its officers in connection with arrangements for the hiring of conveyances.

PART III.

MAINTENANCE ALLOWANCE AND MAINTENANCE EXPENSES.

5.--(1) Subject to the provisions of this paragraph a maintenance allowance towards subsistence expenses shall be granted and paid at the rates mentioned in this sub-paragraph by a committee to the following officers in respect of travelling within the county in the course of their official duties, that is to say--

(a) at the rate of £95 per annum to Chief Agricultural Officers and Instructors in Agriculture, and

(b) At the rate of £75 per annum to Instructors in Horticulture and Bee keeping, Instructors in Poultry-keeping and Butter-making-Instructors in Forestry and County Foresters.

(2) Whenever any of the officers mentioned at (a) and (b) of sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph are in any period of twelve months, absent from their duties for more than six weeks on account of sick leave or for a period or periods of sick and annual leave which together amount to more than eight weeks, the said sum of £95 mentioned at (a) and the said sum of £75 mentioned at (b) of sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph shall be so reduced that the sums by which the said sums of £95 and £75, respectively, are reduced shall bear the same proportion to £95 and £75 as the period of sick leave in excess of six weeks or the period of sick and annual leave in excess of eight weeks (as the case may be) bears to the said period of twelve months.

6. Maintenance expenses in the form and by way of a night and day allowance shall be paid at the rates mentioned in this Part of this Schedule by a committee to its Secretary and to Clerical Assistants to its Secretary and to Clerical Assistants to its Chief Agricultural Officers in respect of subsistence expenses incurred by the Secretary and the Assistants when travelling within the county in the course of their official duties.

7. Maintenance expenses in the form and by way of a night and day allowance shall, if the consent in writing of the Minister is first obtained, be paid by a committee to its officers in respect of subsistence expenses incurred by the officers when travelling outside the county in the course of, or in connection with, their official duties.

8. Maintenance expenses in the form and by way of a night and day allowance shall, when the Minister so directs, and may, in exceptional circumstances on the application of a committee and with the written approval of the Minister, be paid to an officer of the committee in respect of subsistence expenses incurred by the officer in the course of, or in connection with, his official duties when travelling within the county but outside his district.

9. The rates of maintenance expenses in the form and by way of a night and day allowance payable by a committee to an existing officer in accordance with the provisions of this Schedule shall not be less than the rates at which such officer was entitled to be paid immediately prior to the date of the making of these regulations.

10.--(1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph 9 of this Schedule, the following shall be the rates of maintenance expenses in the form and by way of a night allowance which shall be payable by a committee to its officers, that is to say--

(a) where the salary of an officer exceeds £527 per annum the rate shall be twenty-two shillings and six pence per night covering a period of twenty-four hours' absence from the officer's headquarters ; after a continuous period of absence of seven nights in any one place the rate of twenty-two shillings and six pence shall be reduced to the rate of twenty shillings and six pence per night for the next seven nights of the officer's stay ; if the continuous period of absence in any one place should extend beyond fourteen nights the rate of twenty-two shillings and six pence shall be reduced to the rate of twenty shillings and sixpence in respect of the first fourteen nights of the officer's stay, and to the rate of seventeen shillings per night thereafter, but if the officer knew or might have known in the first instance that his stay would or was likely to exceed fourteen nights in such one place, the rate of seventeen shillings per night shall be payable in respect of the whole period, and

(b) where the salary of an officer is not less than £318, but does not exceed £527 per annum, the rate shall be nineteen shillings and six pence per night covering a period of twenty-four hours' absence from the officer's headquarters ; after a continuous period of absence of seven nights in any one place the rate of nineteen shillings and six pence shall be reduced to the rate of seventeen shillings and six pence per night for the next seven nights of the officer's stay ; if the continuous period of absence in any one place should extend beyond fourteen nights, the rate of nineteen shillings and six pence shall be reduced to the rate of seventeen shillings and six pence in respect of the first fourteen nights of the officer's stay and to the rate of fourteen shillings per night thereafter ; but if the officer knew or might have known in the first instance that his stay would or was likely to exceed fourteen nights in such one place, the rate of fourteen shillings per night shall be payable in in respect of the whole period, and

(c) where the salary of an officer is less than £318 per annum the rate shall be seventeen shillings per night, covering a period of twenty-four hours' absence from the officer's headquarters ; after a continuous period of absence of seven nights in any one place the rate of seventeen shillings shall be reduced to the rate of fifteen shillings per night for the next seven nights of the officer's stay ; if the continuous period of absence in any one place should extend beyond fourteen nights, the rate of seventeen shillings shall be reduced to the rate of fifteen shillings in respect of the first fourteen nights of the officer's stay and to the rate of eleven shillings per night thereafter ; but if the officer knew or might have known in the first instance, that his stay would or was likely to exceed fourteen nights in such one place, the rate of eleven shillings per night shall be payable in respect of the whole period.

(2) In this paragraph the word " salary " shall be construed as excluding any allowance for travelling and maintenance expenses.

11. The following shall be the rates of maintenance expenses in the form and by way of a day allowance payable by a committee to such of its officers as are entitled to a day allowance, that is to say--

(a) where an officer of a committee is absent from headquarters for a period of not less than ten hours (not extending overnight) or a period of not less than ten hours immediately following the period of twenty-four hours covered by a night allowance, the rate shall be one-third of the rate payable to the officer in the case of a night allowance applicable to the first seven nights of a continuous period of absence by the officer of not more than fourteen nights in any one place ;

(b) where an officer of a committee is absent from headquarters for a period of not less than seven but less than ten hours (not extending overnight) or a period of not less than seven but less than ten hours immediately following the period of twenty-four hours covered by a night allowance, the rate shall be--

(i) three shillings and six pence, in case the rate of night allowance payable to the officer in respect of the first seven nights of a continuous period of absence of not more than fourteen nights in any one place is twenty-two shillings and six pence.

(ii) three shillings, in any other case.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 7th day of November, 1952.

THOMAS WALSH,

Minister for Agriculture.