HC Deb 19 June 1918 vol 107 cc335-7
29. Mr. R. MCNEILL

asked the Undersecretary of State for War if the land taken near Slough for a repairing factory on which the growing crops have been destroyed had been manured and prepared for a rotation for the production of food for the next two years, but that the valuer has informed the tenant that this outlay will be disregarded in assessing compensation; and whether it is the policy of the Government to requisition property on the principle of confiscation?

Mr. MACPHERSON

A very small area of growing crops has been destroyed, and it is hoped that at the outside not more than 50 acres will be used before the crops over the whole area have been harvested. Of the 50 acres, a considerable portion is clover, which will have been cleared before the Department enters. As regards the second part of the question, no such suggestion has been made by any valuer attached to the Directorate of Lands, nor is the basis suggested that on which the Government requisitions property.

Colonel DU PRE

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that these tenants have been told to send in their claims for compensation on the basis of seed and labour only, and will he see that some further compensation is accorded them?

Mr. MACPHERSON

I understand that in all these cases any claim for compensation would go straight to the Defence of the Realm Losses Commission.

Mr. McNEILL

Does not the right hon. Gentleman realise that if instructions have been given to the tenants to make out their claims on a certain basis, excluding unexhausted improvements, that is the same thing as a notice that they will not receive compensation for them?

Mr. MACPHERSON

No; I do not think so. It does not matter what instructions have been given to the tenants, the whole of the relevant facts connected with the case will be considered by a judicial tribunal—that is, the Defence of the Realm Losses Commission.

35. Captain CARR-GOMM

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War how long it is since the officials of the Lands Directorate began negotiations for the acquisition of the site at Cippenham, near Slough, for military purposes?

Mr. MACPHERSON

A representative of the Directorate of Lands, acting under instructions, personally served notice on some of the tenants on the 24th May, and notice was sent to the remainder of the owners and tenants on the following day, of the intention of the Department to occupy the lands in question.

41. Mr. McNEILL

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture what steps he is taking to remove the impression among farmers and allotment holders that the destraction of growing crops in Buckinghamshire by the Government indicates that there is no need for exceptional effort to produce a maximum cultivation of the land?

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of AGRICULTURE (Sir R. Winfrey)

The necessity for all possible efforts to produce the maximum amount of food is accentuated rather than diminished by the proceedings referred to in the hon. Member's question. The Board hope that farmers and allotment-holders will realise that those proceedings could only be justified on grounds of such military urgency as, in tile opinion of the Government, outweigh all other considerations.