§ MR. ROGERSI beg to ask the Secrctary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the expenditure by the Woods and Forests Commissioners on the Crown farm at Burwell, Cambs., amounting to 917 acres, during the two years the farm was in hand was £12,381 2s., and the receipts £3,809 13s. 4d., showing a net loss of £8,571 8s. 8d.; how much of this loss is covered by the stock on the farm; and whether in their accounts showing expenditure and receipts the Commissioners have debited the farm with the rent of £700, or any proportion thereof, for which rent the land has lately been let for purposes of subdivision amongst small holders.
§ MR. MCKENNAI am informed that the cash expended and received respectively in the two years to 31st March 1906 was as stated in the Question. The difference is not a net loss, as the stock, etc., on the farm must be taken into account, though, as the valuations are made at 31st October (the end of the farming year) the value of the stock on 31st March cannot readily be stated. On the 31st October, 1905, however, the stock, etc., on the farm was estimated at £9,292, and to that date the farm showed a small surplus of £12 13s. without charging rent.