Coal Act 1938

3 (1) There shall be a Central Valuation Board consisting of the following members, that is to say—

(a) an independent person, being a member of the legal profession or a person who has had experience in the management of land or with business experience, appointed to act as chairman of the Board;

(b) two other independent persons; and

(c) in respect of each valuation region, one person who is at the date of his appointment engaged in the management of .mineral estates in that region and who has a knowledge of coal-mining, and experience in the valuation of minerals :

Provided that, for the purpose of the exercise by the Board of their duty under subsection (4) of section six of this Act to divide Great Britain into valuation regions, the Board shall consist of the chairman, the two other independent members, and such number of other members, being persons engaged in the management of mineral estates and having such knowledge and experience as aforesaid, as the Board of Trade may determine.

(2) The appointments aforesaid shall be made by the Board of Trade after consultation, in the case of the chairman of the Board, with the Lord Chancellor, and, in the case of the other members thereof, with the chairman of the Mineral Owners' Joint Committee and the president of the Chartered Surveyors Institution.

(3) The Board of Trade may, after such consultation as aforesaid, make a temporary appointment of a person to act as chairman or other member of the Board at any time when the chairman or another member is temporarily absent or unable to act.

(4) The quorum of the Board shall be such number of the members of the Board as may be prescribed.

(5) A determination of the Board shall be taken by the votes of the members of the Board present and voting, or, in case of difference between them, of the majority, and in the case of an equality of votes the chairman shall be entitled to a second or casting vote.

(6) In this and the next succeeding paragraph the expression " independent person " means a person who is not at the date of his appointment, and has not recently been, engaged in or connected with the management of mineral estates and is not a member, or an officer or servant, of an organisation of employers or of workpeople in the coal-mining industry, a practising mining engineer, or in any other manner directly connected with that industry.