§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £30,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1945, for the salaries and expenses of the Department of Agriculture for Scotland, including grants for land improvement, agricultural education and research, agricultural marketing, agricultural credits, expenses in respect of regulation of agricultural wages, certain grants in aid, and remanet subsidy payments.
§ 12.30 p.m.
§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Westwood)I think a short explanation is all that is necessary to justify this small Supplementary Estimate. At the time when the Supplementary Estimate, which was dated 16th June, was prepared, we calculated that an additional provision of £10,000 would be required to enable the Department to meet the claims under this scheme until the end of the financial year. Recently, however, there has been a heavy increase in the applications for payment of grants in respect of completed works, and a very large number of applications for grants in respect of new works. Many of these will accrue, or have accrued, for payment of the grant. This increase of drainage operations in the face of labour difficulties is very creditable. Farmers have set out to improve the productivity of their land before the next cropping season, and the agricultural war committees have also been very active in encouraging and requiring the execution of drainage work in the interests of food production. By making the maximum use of labour in the off-season, especially during any spells of open weather, and by the increased use of machinery there has been a much 2414 more rapid completion of the work than we anticipated. From the inception of the scheme in 1937 to date 658,000 acres of land have been improved or reclaimed. Of that total 392,000 acres have been dealt with since 1939, 82,000 acres of that last figure during the past year. On a recent review of the position it became clear that, with the increased rate of expenditure to be expected during the remainder of the financial year, this further provision of £30,000 is necessary to enable the Department to meet its commitments in those cases which will be ready for payment of the grant. In view of the pressure which has been put on agricultural executive committees and on individual farmers to have drainage carried out with a view to increasing cultivation, complaints of delay of payment might hinder us in the good work in which we have been engaged.
§ Question put, and agreed to.