§ SIR FRANCIS CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether land used either in large or small farms or in allotments for poultry and egg production is agricultural land as contemplated under the provisions of the Agricultural Rates Act, and entitled to the relief provided by that Act.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) My hon. friend has asked me to reply to this Question. The point referred to in it is one which I have no authority to determine, but the needful guidance to a solution of the question may possibly be obtained by the application of the principle recognised by the House of Lords in the case of Smith v. Richmond (A.C. 1899, 448). Accordingly, it may be said that if a farm used in part for poultry and, egg production comprises land used as arable, meadow, or pasture ground only, the land so used will be agricultural land, notwithstanding its association with the other industry. Allotments used for poultry and egg production would also appear to be agricultural land within the meaning of the Act.