§ 50. Sir A. SINCLAIRasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what number of new holdings and enlargements, respectively, he proposes to constitute throughout Scotland during the current year?
§ Major ELLIOTProvided that no unexpected obstacle arises, it is anticipated that about 100 new holdings and 80 enlargements of existing holdings will be formed during the present year.
§ Mr. KIRKWOODThat is all the Government have done, and yet the fact remains that 60,000 of my fellow countrymen emigrated from Scotland last year, because they could not get any work.
§ 53. Sir A. SINCLAIRasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many applicants, including those who have been settled on vacant holdings con- 1760 stituted by the Board of Agriculture in previous years and those who have only received enlargements or shares in club farms, have been settled on the land by the Board of Agriculture in the last two years; how many acres have been acquired by the Board for the purpose of land settlement during the past two years; and how many new holdings have been constituted on the land so acquired?
§ Major ELLIOTDuring the two years to 31st December, 1927, 353 applicants for new holdings and 66 for enlargements of existing holdings were settled by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. 130 and 2, respectively, of these were in place of tenants settled in previous years who had for various reasons relinquished their tenancies. 42 of the applicants were given common pasture enlargements. During the same period the Board acquired by purchase or made available by the procedure of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Acts, 19,678 acres on which up to the end of last year 108 new holdings and 36 enlargements had been formed. When completed these schemes will provide a further 83 new holdings and 40 enlargements.
§ Sir A. SINCLAIRWas the hon. and gallant Gentleman's Department responsible for supplying the information that 500 new applicants had been settled in the last two years, because that was a grossly misleading statement which was made in the Prime Minister's speech in Scotland.