§ MR. BRODIETo ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, in view of the disappointment experienced by the applicants for small holdings in the parishes of Godstone and Tatsfield, in Surrey, anything can be done by the Board to assist the county council to obtain land; and whether the Board will obtain a report on the position with a view to rendering such assistance.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The Board have already been in communication with the county council as to the Tatsfield applicants. Three local inquiries have been held there, and the county council are endeavouring to obtain land for the suitable applicants. We have not received any representations from the Godstone applicants, but inquiry will be made.
§ MR. BRODIETo ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether the Board have any further information as to the case of Mr. Payne, of Oxted, Surrey, whose application for a small holding of five acres was approved some three months age, and who was visited by an agent of the Surrey County Council about a month ago, but who has not yet received any definite information as to when he is likely to get land; and whether the Board, if they have no information, will obtain a report from the Surrey County Council.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The Board are informed that the county council are endeavouring to obtain land for Mr. Payne, but as he requires it within half a mile of New Oxted, where the price of land is from £200 to £300 an acre, the county council are precluded from purchasing, and they have not yet been able to obtain any land on lease.