§ 19. Mr. R. YOUNGasked the Minister of Agriculture whether any record is kept in his Department of the number of farms in England and Wales and the tenure on which they are held; and, if so, how many are freehold farms, and in the case of leasehold farms how many are held on long leases and how many are let on short leases?
Mr. GUINNESSThe number of agricultural holdings as returned on 4th June, 1927, in England and Wales was 401,734, and the number returned as owned by their occupiers was 146,887. Apart from the above, I have no information which would enable me to give the number of holdings held under any given form of tenure.