§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate, as representing the Secretary 292 for Scotland, seeing that an application made by the parish council of Kincardine, Ross-shire, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894, Section 26, authorising land to be taken on lease compulsorily for allotments, was refused by the county council for Ross and Cromarty on 4th May, 1899, will he state the cause of the refusal.
*MR. A. GRAHAM MURRAYI am informed by the Local Government Board that the refusal of the county council of Ross and Cromarty to grant an order authorising the parish council of Kincardine to take land on lease compulsorily for allotments was the subject of an appeal to them in terms of Section 25 (5) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894. The Board made careful inquiry into the case, and induced the county council to reconsider their decision, but at this stage the circumstances had so altered as to convince the county council that they ought not to issue the order craved. The parish council of Kincardine, in view of the altered circumstances, intimated to the Board that they did not desire to press their appeal.