§ 31. Mr. EDEasked the Minister of Agriculture how many ex-service men applied for small holdings in England and Wales; how many have been settled on the land; how many have been passed as suitable but have not yet been settled; how many have been rejected as unsuitable; and how many applicants have not yet been classified as suitable or unsuitable?
§ Sir R. SANDERSAs the answer necessarily contains a number of figures, I propose, with the hon. Member's permission, to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ As the hon. Member is probably aware, any ex-service men who desired to avail themselves of the preference given to such men over civilians under the Gov-
| SERVICE AND EX-SERVICE MEN. | ||
| — | Applications made on or before 1st December,1920. | Applications made after 1st December, 1920. |
| 1. Total Applications received by Councils for holdings | 48,917 | 7,179 |
| 2. Applicants settled on small holdings | 15,611 | 1,190 |
| 3. Applicants approved and not yet provided with Holdings. | 6,054 | 1,165 |
| 4. Applicants interviewed and finally rejected as un-suitable. | 3,105 | 397 |
| 5. Applicants withdrawn or removed from the list, excluding those entered in (4). | 22,357 | 1,388 |
| 6. Applicants waiting interview or standing over, excluding those in (3). | 1,790 | 3,039 |
§ I may explain that the above figures refer to the position as at the 16th January last. The usual six-monthly returns, which will show the position as at the 16th July, are now being collected, and I will send up-to-date figures to the hon. Member as soon as the returns have been completed.
§ In addition to the above, 472 ex-service men have been settled on the Ministry's Farm Settlements exclusive of settlements transferred to Councils, and 1,623 applicant withdrawn, rejected or removed from the lists. No applicants who applied prior to 1st December, 1920, now remain on the Ministry's list, and none have, since that date, been added to the list.