§ MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that ten heads of families applied to the Stirlingshire county council in July 1907 for fifty acres of Crown land in the immediate neighbourhood of the town for small holdings on co-operative principles; that the county council and the town council favoured the application; that Mr. Stafford Howard, the Commissioner of Woods and Forests, after visiting the place in September, approved of the grant of the land; that the objection of certain persons that the proposed small holdings would intercept the view from the Castle was over-ruled as absurd by the county council; and that on the report of Sir Schomberg Macdonnell the Secretary for Scotland refused the application, notwithstanding the strong local support given to them; and whether, seeing that the county council, instead of opposing or being indifferent, actively supported this promising commencement under favourable auspices, the 1099 Government will reconsider their decision and grant the land to the applicants.
§ MR. RUNCIMANIn consequence of the opposition manifested to the site proposed for these small holdings, and having regard to the views of the Office of Works and all the circumstances of the case, the applicants and the Commissioner of Woods are in communication with a view to finding an alternative site, if possible.
§ MR. YOUNGER (Ayr Burghs)was understood to ask if the refusal had anything to do with the action of the county council in refusing to accept responsibility.
§ MR. RUNCIMANWe had nothing whatever to do with that.