§ 22. Mr. MacNEILL WEIRasked the Under-Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health on whose authority the decision recently issued by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, to the effect that they would not proceed to the formation of small holdings on any raided lands, was taken; whether he is aware that such decision is regarded by landlords as a form of insurance against the formation of small holdings on their estates; and whether, seeing that land raiders, like all other offenders, are amenable to punishment by the ordinary Courts of Justice and not to an unauthorised tribunal such as the Board of Agriculture, he is prepared to have this decision annulled?
§ The SOLICITOR - GENERAL for SCOTLAND (Mr. F. C. Thomson)The effect of the Board's decision, which carries out an instruction issued and announced in the Press by the then Secretary for Scotland in December, 1921, and confirmed by the present Secretary for Scotland some months ago, is not correctly stated in the question. The instruction does not preclude the formation of small holdings on land which has been raided after the removal of the raiders, but it does require the persons who have taken part, in such raids to be removed from the Board's lists of approved applicants. The reply to the 1054 second part of the question is in the negative. My Noble Friend is not prepared to annul the decision, which is in the interests of law-abiding applicants for small holdings.