§ 72 and 73. Mr. PALINGasked the Minister of Agriculture (1) whether the village farm at Horbling, Lincolnshire, will be let to a tenant who will reside in the farmhouse or to a farmer who intends to put a foreman in it;
(2) the number of applicants for the occupation of the village farm at Horbling, on the Crown estate?
§ The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Guinness)The present tenant of village farm, Horbling, recently asked to be released from his tenancy, and recommended Mr. A. J. Allen, who has a small freehold farm adjoining, as his successor. Two other applications were received subsequently. All the three applicants were well qualified, but the Commissioners of Crown Lands, after careful consideration, decided to accept Mr. Allen on the grounds that (1) his was much the earliest application in point of time, (2) the holding could be more conveniently and profitably worked in conjunction with Mr. Allen's freehold farm, and (3) the farmhouse is better suited for occupation by a foreman than by a tenant farmer.
§ Mr. PALINGAre we to understand that the man there has already another farm, and that this farm has been in the occupation of a tenant who already had two or three other farms and who put a foreman on this farm, and in view of the number of applicants is it not time that this policy was stopped?
§ Mr. GUINNESSI think we must consider the Crown revenue. As this farmhouse is more suitable for occupation by a bailiff, I think we ought to avoid capital expenditure. Besides that, the selected tenant was in the field two months before the subsequent applications.