§ MR. ESSEX (Gloucestershire, Cirencester)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he has expressed unwillingness to lend money to the Gloucestershire County Council for the purposes of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, Clause 6, subsection (2), and Clause 49, for a term of fifty years; if so, what less term than fifty years has been specified.
I beg also to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he has sanctioned any scheme made by the Gloucestershire County Council authorising them 43 to demand a rent-charge for building grants under the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, calculated to repay such loans and interest thereon accruing for a less term than fifty years; and, if so, what lesser term as a basis for calculating rent-charges has he sanctioned.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. JOHN BURNS,) BatterseaThe answer to both of the Questions is in the negative. I do not find that I have been approached by the county council with regard to the matters referred to in them. Without knowing the circumstances of the particular case, I could not say for what period a loan would be sanctioned.