(1)Each of the Boards shall have power to construct, manufacture, produce, purchase, maintain and repair anything required for the purposes of the business—
(a)of that Board,
(b)of any other Board, or
(c)of a subsidiary of any of the Boards or of a subsidiary of the Holding Company,
and, subject to section eleven of this Act and to the following provisions of this section, the Boards shall not have power to construct, manufacture, produce, purchase, maintain or repair anything not required for any of those purposes.
(2)The British Waterways Board shall have power to construct, manufacture or produce any plant or equipment of a kind ordinarily made for use in connection with the operation of an inland waterway with a view to its sale for use in that connection, and to repair plant or equipment of such a kind:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply to barges or any other description of vessels.
(3)Subsection (1) of this section shall not affect the powers conferred by section forty-three of the British Transport Commission Act, 1950 (which relates to the supply of railway equipment to the Ulster Transport Authority, and which will under this Act apply to the Railways Board), or section sixty-seven of the British Transport Commission Act, 1957 (which relates to the supply of heat to the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, and which will under this Act apply to the London Board).
(4)Each of the Boards shall from time to time submit to the Minister proposals as to the manner in which their powers of construction, manufacture and production under the foregoing provisions of this section are to be exercised, and shall exercise those powers in accordance with those proposals as approved by the Minister with or without modification; but the Minister may, after consultation with a Board, direct that Board to discontinue any of the activities which they are carrying on in accordance with proposals so approved.
(5)Without prejudice to so much of subsection (1) of this section as restricts the Boards' powers, a Board shall not have power to manufacture, otherwise than for purposes of research or development, road vehicles, bodies or chassis for road vehicles or major components of road vehicles.
This subsection shall not come into force as respects the Railways Board until the expiration of the period of three years from the vesting date, so, however, that if it appears to the Minister that that Board can properly terminate the activities restricted by this subsection before then, he may direct that for the period of three years there shall be substituted such shorter period as may be specified in the direction.
(6)Without prejudice to so much of subsection (1) of this section as restricts the Boards' powers, a Board shall not have power—
(a)to purchase any road vehicle for the purpose of sale to any person other than another Board or a subsidiary of any of the Boards or of the Holding Company,
(b)to trade in spare parts for or accessories to road vehicles, or in petrol or oil for road vehicles, except by way of sale to any of the other Boards, or a subsidiary of any of the Boards or of the Holding Company, or
(c)to engage in the maintenance or repair of road vehicles or spare parts for or accessories to road vehicles, other than vehicles, spare parts or accessories used by any of the Boards, or any subsidiary of any of the Boards or of the Holding Company, for the purposes of their business.
(7)The Boards shall not have power to engage in the building of ships, except lighters, barges or like vessels of a gross tonnage not exceeding one hundred and seventy-five tons, but this subsection—
(a)shall not apply to the conversion by the British Water ways Board of a ship from one type to another, and
(b)shall not be taken as preventing any of the Boards from manufacturing furnishings or fittings for ships to be operated by them or any of their subsidiaries.
(8)For the purposes of this section—
" body ", in relation to a vehicle in which the framework to which the major components are attached forms an integral whole with the body-structure, includes that framework;
" chassis " means—
in relation to a vehicle in which the framework to which the major components are attached is distinct from the body-structure, that framework together with the complement of major components required in order to construct a road vehicle on that framework, or
in relation to a vehicle in which the framework to which the major components are attached forms an integral whole with the body-structure, the complement of major components required in order to complete that body-structure, when new, as a road vehicle;
" major component " means the complete power unit, complete transmission system, complete suspension system, complete steering gear, complete braking system or complete axle of a vehicle;
" manufacture ", in relation to the body of a road vehicle, and in relation to the chassis of a road vehicle where the framework to which the major components are attached is distinct from the body-structure, includes the assembly of the parts of the body or, as the case may be, of the parts of the chassis for the purpose of constructing a new body or, as the case may be, a new chassis;
" road vehicle " includes any vehicle designed to be used both as railway rolling stock and on roads.