§ MR. T. R. BUCHANAN (Aberdeenshire, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether his attention has been drawn to the recent Report of the inspector on the Ellon district in Aberdeenshire, in which he points out the difficulty experienced in dealing with insanitary dwellings on small crofts, and states that it is not unusual that when notification is made to the landlord of the insanitary condition of such dwellings the tenant is told he will have to quit his holding, and the holding will be added to the nearest farm; and whether he will be prepared by legislation to give the compulsory powers asked for in this Report for the purpose of securing more sanitary dwellings, and of preventing the disappearance of these small holdings?
§ SIR WILLIAM WEDDERBURN (Banffshire)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether his attention has been drawn to two recent cases at Craigston, Turriff, in which crofters have been turned out because their houses have been condemned as unfit, the proprietor pulling down their houses and adding the crofts to the neighbouring farms: and whether there is any remedy in such cases, and any power in the local authorities to cause new dwellings to be erected in place of the old ones?
§ THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (Sir GEORGE TREVELYAN,) Glasgow, BridgetonI have drawn the attention of the Local Government Board to the questions of my hon. Friends. The information which has reached me hitherto is not sufficient, and I have called for a special Report. I have desired that it should be ascertained to what extent the practice described in the questions prevails in Aberdeenshire. I have likewise asked what is the character of the compulsory powers indicated in the Report of the sanitary inspector, and what the opinion, of the Local Government Board is on the subject. These are important points, both of fact and policy, and as soon as I have the materials in my hands I will reply to my hon. Friends.