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42 1934

SLAUGHTER OF CATTLE AND SHEEP ACT, 1934

PART IX.

Distribution of Beet to Certain Classes of Persons.

Definitions in Part IX.

43. —(1) In this Part of this Act—

the word “recipient” means (subject to the provisions of this section) a person who is in receipt of unemployment assistance

or of outdoor relief or home assistance or of both such unemployment assistance and such outdoor relief or home assistance;

the expression “unemployment assistance officer” has the same meaning as it has in the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933 (No. 46 of 1933);

the expression “assistance officer” means an assistance officer within the meaning of the County Boards of Health (Assistance) Order, 1924.

(2) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, at any time by order declare any particular class or description of necessitous persons to be recipients for the purposes of this Part of this Act, and whenever any such order is made, the word “recipient” shall, so long as such order is in force and subject to any amendment thereof, be construed and have effect in this Part of this Act as including the class or description of persons declared by such order to be recipients.

(3) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may at any time by order amend or revoke any order previously made by him under this section.

Contracts for free supply of beef.

44. —(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, enter into contracts with registered proprietors of registered victualling premises whereby the registered proprietor with whom any particular such contract is so made will agree to supply, free of charge, in accordance with this Act to recipients on demand so much beef of a specified kind and quality as shall be lawfully demanded of him under this Act by recipients in each week up to a specified maximum weekly quantity of such beef and the Minister will agree to pay in accordance with this Act to such registered proprietor a specified price or a price calculated at a specified rate for all beef so supplied by such registered proprietor.

(2) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, agree with any person with whom he has made a contract under this section for any alteration of the terms of such contract or for the extension or termination of such contract.

(3) Every contract made under this section may contain such terms and provisions ancillary or incidental to the main object thereof as the Minister shall, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, think proper.

Areas for compulsory supply of beef.

45. —(1) Whenever the Minister is satisfied in respect of any particular area that it is for any reason not practicable to make under this Part of this Act a contract for such area with a registered proprietor of registered victualling premises for the free supply of beef to recipients, the Minister may with the consent of the Minister for Finance by order—

(a) declare such area to be an appointed area for the purposes of this Act, and

(b) require the registered proprietor of every registered victualling premises in such area, on demand made in accordance with this Act by a recipient, to supply free of charge to such recipient such quantity of beef of a specified kind and quality as shall be lawfully so demanded by such recipient, and

(c) fix the maximum weekly quantity of such beef which each such registered proprietor shall be obliged so to supply to recipients, and

(d) fix the price to be paid by the Minister to each such registered proprietor for the beef so supplied by such registered proprietor.

(2) Whenever the Minister has made an order under the foregoing sub-section of this section, the area to which such order relates shall, so long as such order remains in force, be an appointed area for the purposes of this Act and the registered proprietor of every registered victualling premises in such area shall, so long as aforesaid, be bound to supply beef to recipients in accordance with such order and this Act.

(3) In fixing, in an order made under this section, the several maximum weekly quantities of beef to be supplied to recipients in pursuance of such order by the respective registered proprietors of registered victualling premises in the area to which such order relates, the Minister shall have regard to the volume and character of victualling business done in each of such premises, to the intent that the obligations imposed by such order may be apportioned equitably amongst the registered victualling premises in such area.

(4) The Minister may with the consent of the Minister for Finance at any time by order revoke or amend any order previously made by him under this section.

Beef vouchers.

46. —(1) The Minister shall arrange for the issue to recipients of vouchers (in this Part of this Act referred to as beef vouchers) by means of which recipients will be enabled to obtain supplies of beef under this Part of this Act, and with that object the Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Local Government and Public Health and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, may by order make regulations for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say:—

(a) providing for the distribution to recipients of beef vouchers entitling such recipients to obtain a weekly supply of beef under this Part of this Act;

(b) prescribing (subject to the provisions of this section) the form and contents of beef vouchers;

(c) prescribing (subject as aforesaid) the weekly quantity of beef which each recipient shall be entitled so to obtain;

(d) securing that every person who is for the time being a recipient shall receive every week such beef voucher as he is entitled to in the circumstances of his case and that no beef voucher shall be issued to a person who is not a recipient;

(e) providing for such other matters as may be necessary or desirable for securing the due distribution of beef vouchers.

(2) Regulations made under this section if made with the concurrence of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health may impose on relieving officers and assistance officers the duty of distributing beef vouchers to recipients who are in receipt of outdoor relief or home-assistance.

(3) Every beef voucher shall state—

(a) the week during which beef can be obtained by means of such voucher, and

(b) the contractor or registered proprietor from whom and the place at which beef can be so obtained, and

(c) the quantity of beef which can be so obtained.

(4) Regulations made under this section shall provide for the weekly quantity of beef to be obtained by a recipient being fixed with due regard to the number and age of his dependants and, in the case of a recipient in receipt of unemployment assistance, the number of days on which he is unemployed in the relevant week in respect of which he is paid unemployment assistance.

Obtaining of beef by means of beef vouchers.

47. —(1) Every person to whom a beef voucher has been issued under this Part of this Act shall, on presenting, either personally or by his wife, child, or other dependant, such beef voucher during the period and at the premises named therein when such premises are open for the transaction of business be entitled to receive in exchange for such beef voucher the quantity of beef specified in such voucher.

(2) References in this Part of this Act to a demand by a recipient for beef shall be construed as referring to the due presentation of a beef voucher in accordance with the foregoing sub-section of this section.

Returns by and payment of contractors.

48. —(1) Every registered proprietor of registered victualling premises with whom a contract made by the Minister under this Part of this Act is for the time being in force shall, at the prescribed times and in the prescribed manner, furnish to the Minister a return in the prescribed form and in respect of the prescribed period showing the quantity of beef supplied during such period by such registered proprietor in pursuance of such contract and stating the prescribed particulars of such beef.

(2) Every return made by a registered proprietor in pursuance of this section shall have annexed thereto or be accompanied by all beef vouchers received by such registered proprietor in respect of the beef to which such return relates.

(3) Within one month after receipt of any return made by a registered proprietor in pursuance of this section, the Minister shall pay to such registered proprietor the price payable under the contract then in force made under this Part of this Act between the Minister and such registered proprietor for the beef to which such return relates and for which beef vouchers are annexed to or sent with such return.

Returns by registered proprietors in appointed areas.

49. —(1) Every registered proprietor of registered victualling premises in an appointed area shall, at the prescribed times and in the prescribed manner, furnish to the Minister a return in the prescribed form and in respect of the prescribed period showing the quantity of beef supplied during such period by such registered proprietor to recipients in pursuance of this Part of this Act and stating the prescribed particulars of such beef.

(2) Every return made by a registered proprietor in pursuance of this section shall have annexed thereto or be accompanied by all beef vouchers received by such registered proprietor in respect of the beef to which such return relates.

(3) Within one month after receipt of any return made by a registered proprietor in pursuance of this section, the Minister shall pay to such registered proprietor the price payable under the relevant order of the Minister for the beef to which such return relates and for which beef vouchers are annexed to or sent with such return.

Prohibition of dealings with beef vouchers.

50. —(1) Every person who sells, buys, barters, pawns, or takes in pawn, or offers to sell, buy, barter, pawn, or take in pawn a beef voucher or any beef obtained in exchange for a beef voucher shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding five pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding one month.

(2) Every alienation or purported alienation of a beef voucher, whether by way of sale, barter, or hypothecation, shall be void and of no effect.

(3) Nothing in this section shall apply to the due presentation of a beef voucher for the purpose of obtaining a supply of beef under this Part of this Act or to the supplying or receiving of beef in exchange for a beef voucher under and in accordance with this Part of this Act.

Prohibition of double beef vouchers.

51. —(1) No recipient shall be entitled to apply for or receive more than one beef voucher in respect of any one week, and in particular no recipient who is in receipt of both unemployment assistance and outdoor relief or home assistance shall be entitled to apply for or receive more than one beef voucher in respect of any one week.

(2) Every recipient who applies for or who receives a beef voucher in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding two pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding fourteen days.

Unlawful application for or receipt of beef voucher.

52. —(1) It shall not be lawful for any person who is not for the time being a recipient to apply for or to receive a beef voucher.

(2) Every person who applies for or receives or applies for and receives a beef voucher in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding two pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding fourteen days.

Offences by registered proprietors.

53. —Every registered proprietor of registered premises—

(a) who fails or refuses to supply to a recipient any beef which is lawfully demanded of him by or on behalf of such recipient, or

(b) who demands or takes any money or other valuable consideration (other than the price payable by the Minister under this Part of this Act), for or in relation to the supply to a recipient of beef lawfully demanded of him by such recipient, or

(c) who makes, in any return made by him in pursuance of this Part of this Act, any statement which is to his knowledge false or misleading in any material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, in the case of a first such offence, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds and, in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Investigation of complaints.

54. —(1) For the purpose of promoting the smooth and efficient working of this Part of this Act, any inspector, unemployment assistance officer, relieving officer, assistance officer, or member of the Gárda Síochána shall be entitled to inquire into and investigate any complaint by a recipient or by a registered proprietor of registered premises in regard to any matter arising under this Part of this Act and also to inquire into and investigate any matter arising in the execution of this Part of this Act which comes to the knowledge of such inspector, officer, or member and appears to him to require investigation.

(2) Whenever any inspector or any such officer as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section of this section or any member of the Gárda Síochána finds on an inquiry or investigation made by him under that sub-section any abuse, irregularity, or other matter in relation to the execution of this Part of this Act which appears to him to require remedying, it shall be the duty of such inspector, officer, or member (as the case may be) to make such report as appears to him proper in the circumstances.