HC Deb 03 February 1930 vol 234 cc1488-9
42. Mr. C. WILLIAMS

asked the Minister of Agriculture the number of tenant occupiers of agricultural land in Great Britain under Crown lands, local authorities, and private owners, respectively; and the amount occupied under each of these headings?

Mr. N. BUXTON

As the reply is necessarily long and includes a number of figures I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the reply:

(1) The number of tenant occupiers of agricultural land under the Commissioners of Crown lands, excluding allotments of an acre or less is about 1,000 and the area let to such tenants is about 92,000 acres. These figures do not include any land let to the Ministry or to local authorities for small holdings or allotments.

(2) There are also 345 tenants of one acre and upwards occupying 7,831 acres of land owned or leased by the Ministry as farm settlements, including 84 tenants on 914 acres leased from the Commissioners of Crown lands. I have no information as to the number of agricultural tenants who hold land from other Government Departments.

(3) The number of tenants of small holdings provided by county councils and councils of county boroughs in England and Wales on the 31st December, 1928, was 27,662 and the area occupied by them was 436,839 acres. With the exception of allotments for which figures are given in paragraph (5) I have no information as to the number of tenants of agricultural land under other local authorities.

(4) No separate figures are available as to the extent of Agricultural land held under private owners, but the total number of holdings in England and Wales exceeding one acre occupied by tenants on the 4th June, 1927, the last date for which figures are available, was 254,847, and the area occupied by them was 20,361,181 acres, including about 4,000,000 acres of rough grazings. These figures include those given in paragraphs (1) to (3).

(5) As regards allotments the latest returns show a total of 1,001,741 tenants on an area of 148,962 acres, of whom 473,674 on 62,977 acres, are tenants of local authorities. Some of these allotments are over one acre and may, therefore, be included in paragraph (4).

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