§ 50. Sir Waldron Smithersasked the Minister of Agriculture the amount of the expenditure of the War Agricultural Executive Committees and also the cost to the taxpayer since they were inaugurated.
Mr. HudsonI would refer my hon. Friend to the Civil Appropriation Accounts (Unclassified Votes for 1940 and Class X for subsequent years). Total payments and receipts from the inception of the Committees to 31st March last, in- 1977 cluding approximate figures for the financial year ended on that date, were £55,600,000 and £30,400,000 respectively. These figures exclude sums due to or by the Committees at 31st March, 1945, also tenant right and live and dead stock on hand at that date, together with betterment claims in connection with lands in possession. In addition, there has been expenditure of some £9,000,000 in connection with the purchase of machinery supplied to Committees for contract work for farmers and for use on lands in possession.