§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."—[Commander Eyres Monsell.]
§ Mr. MACLEANI wish to draw attention again to the mismanagement of 999 small holdings in Scotland by the Secretary of State for Scotland. I put a question to the right hon. Gentleman today, following upon a number of questions which I have been putting to him regarding small holdings in Scotland, and, in particular, the applications of two ex-Service men, who have been refused small holdings by the Board of Agriculture. These two individuals put in their application while they were serving in the Army, before the termination of the War. They put in their applications to the Scottish Board of Agriculture, and to this day they have not received their small holdings. That is a gross travesty of the Small Holdings Act, and a travesty of the appeal that was made by the then Government to the ex-Service men who were fighting in France, and who were invited to make applications for land in the country for which they were fighting. A promise was made by the Government that the applications would be granted. For 11 years, the applications of these two ex-Service men have been dangling before the Board of Agriculture. The right hon. Gentleman has been Secretary of State for Scotland for four years, and, if in four years he cannot see his way to give these two ex-Service men small holdings in Ross-shire, he ought to resign. The Secretary of State for Scotland, in reply to me to-day, refused to give the information which I desired; information that has been supplied to him on three separate occasions by inspectors sent by him or his predecessors to inspect the ground applied for by these two men. In the question which I asked to-day, I asked that the reports should be placed upon the Table of the House, or in the Library. That has been refused. If the right hon. Gentleman cannot give the reports, he ought to give the reason why he has not given these two men the small holdings for a period of 11 years.
On 9th May I asked whether they had had the Shiel estate inspected for the purpose of small holdings since the War and whether he could give the report made by the officers who made the inspection. The reply I had was that the estate had been inspected on three occasions. I wanted the right hon. Gentleman to tell the House what were 1000 the figures given, which would have shown the scheme to be excessive in cost. He said the Minister was responsible in conjunction with the Treasury for considering whether the scheme was a reasonable scheme or not. As he himself is the Minister responsible, the holding up of this scheme is due to him. He cannot put the responsibility on the Treasury, or on any other individual in the Cabinet. I want to know what he intends to do with these ex-service men. The matter has gone beyond a joke. The matter has become serious, and unless I and the other Members who represent these men get satisfaction we shall continue to raise this matter night after night until the right hon. Gentleman finds his life a burden, or decides after all that the matter is so easy to settle that he will grant holdings to these two individuals. As I promised my right hon. Friend who represents Ross and Cromarty (Mr. Macpherson) that I would give him some time in. which to state the position as he knows it, I will detain the House no longer at present.
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI hesitate to intervene at this late hour, because my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State may have some useful information to give to the House. I happen to know the two applicants in this case, and all I can say is that they are highly desirable applicants and would look after a holding very well indeed. Their applications are only a part of the general applications put forward in that part of Ross-shire. Many applications have been made there during the last few years. The situation is made rather difficult at the present moment by the fact that one of the largest estates there has been handed over, very generously, to the Northern Infirmary, Inverness. I asked my right hon. Friend some time ago whether he could send up special investigators to see whether it would be possible to allay the difficulty there. I do not know whether he has been able to do that, but I think a proper solution would be that somebody in authority should go up there to try to solve this very pressing difficulty.
The hon. Member for Govan (Mr. Maclean) has raised the general question of small holdings in the Highlands and in Scotland generally. Could my right 1001 hon. Friend inform the House whether the Report of the Nairn Committee is to be issued, and what its findings are likely to be? I am convinced that nothing can be done unless and until the whole general question is considered, and I can think of no place in Scotland where the question should be considered more thoroughly than in this particular part of Scotland. My hon. Friend above the Gangway said he would press this question night and day. I have been doing that for a long time now, and I am quite certain that the Scottish Office would be right in allocating some land in that part to the applicants who apply.
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for SCOTLAND (Sir John Gilmour)I make no complaint that this question has been raised, but I think it would be an entire mistake to assume that the Department of which I have charge has not endeavoured to meet the problem of land settlement and the settlement of smallholders in this particular area. When an hon. Member comes to me and says that this or that individual, or even two individuals, have a particular right, without due consideration of the claims or circumstances of others with similar claims, or that either of these individuals shall have the right to say that they must, under the circumstances, and without due consideration of the case or the repercussions which settlement upon particular estates may have, I must join issue at once. The fact is that within this district I have had the most careful survey made of the possibilities and probabilities of finding suitable land for small holdings. I must again bring to the notice of the hon. Member this fact, that while it may not have been possible to find holdings upon a particular piece of ground, holdings have been found in the neighbourhood, and some of these men who are applicants for small holdings have been offered an opportunity of going to small holdings within a reasonable distance, and they have failed to take advantage of these offers. Let me make it perfectly plain to the House—
§ Mr. MAXTONWhat do you mean by "reasonable distance"?
§ Sir J. GILMOURIn any case one of the places offered was within a reason- 1002 able distance. But even if it is outside the district altogether it is quite impossible that any particular applicant, whether an ex-Service man or not, should have the right to insist that the State must put him upon any particular piece of ground.
Let me make it quite clear that when reports are made to me upon the circumstances of any estate they are private reports to the Government Department. In those reports there are considerations of a great variety of characters, and it is impossible that they should be made public. In fact, it would be contrary to the public interest to publish them.
§ Mr. KIRKWOODMay an enemy country get hold of them?
§ Sir J. GILMOURThere are all sorts of circumstances which make it impossible to lay these reports on the Table of the House. It has never been done, and I say quite frankly that it would be against the public interest if it were done. Let me say this also. I have to consider, when it comes to a question of settlement upon any particular property, not only whether such men as we can offer land will be offered land—
§ Mr. MACLEANAre you giving them land or not?
§ Sir J. GILMOURThey will be offered land, it may not be the land which they particularly desire to take in their immediate vicinity, but they will be given—
§ Mr. MACPHERSONWill the same be done in the case of the four ex-Service men at Shiels?
§ Sir J. GILMOURYes; the same opportunities, as and when they arise, will be given without favour; but I am not going to say here to-night that I am going to give particular favours to this or that individual. It may be that land can be found for some of these men. On the other hand, it may be that they refuse to take advantage of land which is offered to them, and in that case I say quite frankly, to the hon. Member and to these men themselves, that, if they do not take a reasonable offer, they will be 1003 struck off the list. [Interruption.] There must be fairness and common sense in dealing with the matter, and I am not going to be dictated to by anyone at all.
§ Mr. MACLEANI shall raise this matter to-morrow night again.
§ Adjourned at Twenty-nine Minutes after Eleven o'clock.