§ 40. Mr. KINGasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture 308 whether he can state the result of the recent appeal to farmers and others to convert pasture into wheat land; whether he is aware that restrictive covenants have hindered this process; and whether it is proposed to make Section 26 of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1908, as regards freedom of cropping, applicable to grass lands as well as to arable?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD Of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Acland)It is too early at present to say how much poor grass may be converted into arable this autumn. I am not aware of any cases in which such conversion, being desirable in the interests of food production, has been hindered owing to a tenant's inability to obtain the relaxation of a restrictive covenant, and therefore I cannot at present advise the legislative measure suggested by my hon. Friend. Any eases of this kind that there may be should be brought to the notice of the county and district committees which are shortly to be set up, so that they may if possible be adjusted in a friendly way.
§ Mr. KINGDoes the right hon. Gentleman's Department follow the newspapers in which a number of cases of this kind have been stated, and may I ask whether the Board of Agriculture subscribes to Press cuttings upon this or other subjects?
§ Mr. ACLANDYes, we receive Press cuttings every day, but as the hon. Gentleman knows the great majority of them contain no particulars which would enable inquiries to be made. We shall always be glad to have exact particulars of real cases.