HC Deb 07 December 1937 vol 330 c196
44. Colonel Clifton Brown

asked the right hon. and gallant Member for Rye, as representing the Forestry Commissioners, how many tenants on their properties in the North Tyne and Redesdale areas hold land on 364-day tenancies; and whether these tenancies will all be changed to annual or long terms in the near future?

Colonel Sir George Courthope (Forestry Commissioner)

Seventeen tenants on the Forestry Commissioners' properties in the North Tyne and Redesdale areas hold land on 364-day tenancies and no change in these tenancies is contemplated.

Colonel Brown

Is it not the case that these 364-day tenancies are given to avoid giving farmers compensation for disturbance, and is that a good example of the Government as landlord?

Sir G. Courthope

My hon. and gallant Friend is misinformed. Of the 17 tenancies I mentioned in the first answer, nine have forest workers' holdings and the others have temporary grazing tenancies on farms which are about to be planted.