§ 34. Sir ARTHUR GRIFFITH- BOSCAWENasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether his attention has been called to the fact, stated in the Annual Report of the Board (Land 197 Division, Part II., Allotments and Miscellaneous), that during 1912 fifty-six applications for houses on allotments were received for twenty-three cottages by town councils, four by urban district councils, and twenty-seven by parish councils, and that neither in this nor any former year have any cottages been built on allotments; whether this is due to any action of any Government Department; and, if so, which?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI have seen the passage in the Report to which the hon. Gentleman refers. The only case of the kind which has come before the Board of Agriculture was an application by the parish council of South Marston in Wilts for a compulsory order under the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, for the acquisition of some ten acres of land on which it was proposed to build ten cottages. The county council had previously declined to make an order, and the Board, after holding a local inquiry, came to the conclusion that the proposed erection of cottages was not for the purpose of adapting the land for allotments, and therefore the application did not come within the provisions of the Act. Apart from this insuperable legal objection there were strong reasons on the merits of the case why the application should be refused. I am informed that another case came before the Local Government Board, with regard to which perhaps the hon. Gentleman will address a question to my right hon. Friend the President of that Department.