§ Mr. SANDERSasked if the right hon. Gentleman was aware that on 28th February last the Somerset County Council applied to the Board for consent to borrow £14,578 4s. 8d. for the purchase and adaptation of land for small holdings, that on 11th March the Board of Agriculture wrote to the clerk of the Somerset County Council asking for plans and estimates of certain works, the estimated cost of which amounted to £460, that the clerk of the Somerset County Council replied that it was not possible to forward such plans at once, and suggesting that the Local Government Board should defer their consent to the loan for these works rather than the sanction of the larger sum should be 429 delayed; and whether, in view of the difficulty of properly financing small holdings, owing to the delays of the Local Government Board, he will in future adopt the principle of sanctioning those portions of loans for small holdings about which there is no dispute, leaving the disputed portions over for subsequent controversy?
§ Mr. BURNSI am aware of the facts of the case in question. I have no objection, where the local authority desire it, to sanctioning those portions of loans for small holdings about which there is no dispute as soon as the necessary particulars are received, leaving the portions in respct of which such particulars are not available to be dealt with later. The loans to which the hon. Member refers, less the sums required for adaptation, have been sanctioned.
§ Sir ALFRED GELDERasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture if he will obtain a return from the Lindsey County Council showing how many applications have been made for small holdings in the county of Lincoln; and how many of such applications have been granted, together with the acreage in each Parliamentary Division of the county?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of AGRICULTURE (Sir Edward Strachey)There have been 586 applications for small holdings made to the Lindsey County Council, of which 492 have been approved. Seventy-nine of the applicants have been, or are about to be, provided with small holdings: sixteen for ninety-one acres in Louth, fifty-three for 931 acres in Horncastle, ten for 233 acres in Gainsborough.