HL Deb 12 February 1908 vol 184 cc3-7
*VISCOUNT HILL

rose to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he had any information as to the existence of the North Berks Small Holdings and Allotments Society; whether this Society were offering land to the public for small holdings; and whether the land so offered belonged to the Duchy of Cornwall.

The noble Viscount said: My Lords, the Question which stands in my name on the Paper has reference to a farm known as Church Farm, on the Duchy of Cornwall estates, and upon which an article appeared in The Times of 17th January. It appears, from information I have been able to obtain, and also from the statement in The Times, that Mr. Strauss, M.P., applied, on behalf of the North Berks Small Holdings and Allotments Society, for a lease of practically the whole of the farm—some 400 acres—for small holdings. If this is the case, your Lordships will see that Mr. Strauss has entirely ignored the Small Holdings and Allotments Act of last year, and it is upon this information that I desire to call the attention of the noble Earl to the grave injustice that would arise out of such proceedings.

The Act to which I have referred distinctly lays down that the local authority are to draw up a scheme, and, if they fail, the Board of Agriculture are to do so, and to present the scheme to the local authority; and, if the local authority fail to carry out the suggested scheme, the Board of Agriculture have then the power to carry it out themselves. It is further laid down in the Act that local authorities, as well as the Board of Agriculture, have power to hand over land that they have purchased for small holdings to other associations, but only provided that the constitution and rules of the associations are approved by the local authority. All this has been ignored by Mr. Strauss, and the news of this transaction has created a great deal of disturbance among agricultural labourers and farmers. That being so, I think it is only the duty of any Member of your Lordships' House interested in the Small Holdings Act to draw the attention of the President of the Board of Agriculture to it.

I feel confident that the noble Earl does not desire the Act to be ignored. On the other hand, if the statement which has appeared in The Times is not true, or is exaggerated, then I think the noble Earl should be given an opportunity of explaining the case fully and satisfactorily, in order to remove any erroneous impression already existing in the neighbourhood of the Duchy of Cornwall and prevent its spreading to other agricultural districts. A similar Question was asked in another place, to which Mr. Runciman gave a fairly satisfactory Answer, but whether it was an official Answer or not I am not in a position to state. As the article which appeared in The Times has been reprinted in various local papers, I maintain that it is only fair to the whole of the agricultural community that the matter should be satisfactorily explained, to enable the working of the Small Holdings Act being successfully carried through without any friction.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (Earl CARRINGTON)

My Lords, the noble Viscount has asked me whether I have any information as to the existence of the North Berks Small Holdings and Allotments Society. I have made inquiries, and I find that there is a society under that name, and it is in course of being registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act of 1893. It is affiliated to the Agricultural Organisation Society—a well-known society, among whose principal promoters are Mr. Yerburgh, ex-M.P., the Hon. Thomas Brassey, Colonel Long, M.P., Mr. F. D. Acland, M.P., and Mr. Noel Buxton. Promises, I am informed, have been already received to take up between 1,500 and 2,000 shares in this society, the object being to form a sort of parent society in North Berks, with branches in the different parishes, and it is to be run very much on the same lines as the Lincolnshire and the Norfolk Small Holdings Societies, which have done much good work, and with both of which I happen, myself, to be personally connected.

I am next asked whether this society is offering land to the public for small holdings. I am informed that there is a considerable amount of land already applied for in North Berks. The matter has not come officially before me, and I am, therefore, unable to state the exact amount. But I believe I am correct in saying that around Abingdon, a small Berkshire town of about 7,000 inhabitants, there is a demand for 500 or 600 acres of land. Perhaps I might say here that ill 1905 or 1906 about 100 men had small holdings and allotments round the town, but the land was sold, I believe to a building speculator, and the tenants turned off, and at the present moment a good many of them are without land at all. Land was offered to these men by the local authority, but as the land so offered was the sewage farm, they, not unnaturally, I think, declined it. I am informed that these men have lost heart in the business, and that some of them, at any rate, are not disposed to try a venture again after having been turned out of their old holdings. I understand that the applicants in this case have a certain amount of money, and that the society is able to guarantee a year's rent in addition to stocking the holdings, independently of the money the men themselves have.

There must be a good demand for land in that neighbourhood. In the Faringdon district there is a farm belonging to Oriel College, Oxford, the tenant of which went bankrupt and for which there are already forty-one applications, the forty-first application being from the North Berks Small Holdings and Allotments Society. This society has, I understand, offered an increased rent, and also guarantee the rent in advance, so as, if possible, to out-distance their competitors and got the farm. But, as I have said, the registration of the society is not complete, the agricultural organisation which I mentioned having the matter in hand. Therefore the Answer to the second Question of the noble Viscount is that the society are not offering land to the public for small holdings, for the simple reason that they have at present no land to offer.

The noble Viscount mentioned a farm belong to the Duchy of Cornwall, and referred to some reports in The Times and elsewhere, about which he asked me a Question. I think the House will agree that it is not my business to correct what appears in the newspapers, and on the subject of the farm belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall I can only refer to Mr. Runciman's reply in the other House, that the Duchy has not given, and never had any intention to give, notice to quit to the tenants of the farm at Shipton, near Abingdon. I am informed that, while the Duchy of Cornwall decline to lot land to individuals or to associations for small holdings, they are perfectly ready and willing to let land for this purpose to local authorities. They are anxious to meet in every fair way the demand for land, and I believe that in days gone by the Duchy of Cornwall were very generous in this matter, and that they have a considerable number of allotments and small holdings on this large estate.

I do not quite understand what the noble Viscount meant when he said that Mr. Strauss had ignored the Small Holdings Act. This association apparently has been anxious to get land by mutual consent from individual landlords, and they may, or may not, have approached the Duchy of Cornwall in that way. But it seems to me that, instead of ignoring the recent Act, the members of this association are doing their best to assist its operation. I think the House will agree that these associations are of great value, not only to their members but to the local authorities, to the landlords, and to the would-be small holders themselves; and I would remind the noble Viscount that specific powers were given, under Section 9 of the Act of last year, to enable local authorities to let land to such associations. That was only carrying out the idea of the Committee presided over by the Earl of Onslow. Five hundred acres of Crown lands have already been let to the Lincolnshire Small Holdings Association. These associations must afford considerable relief to the county councils in the detailed trouble and labour of meeting the enormous demands for small holdings. And here, perhaps, I may be permitted to express my gratitude to the county councils for the generous, practical, and workmanlike way in which they have met the extra work placed on them by the Small Holdings Act. In twenty-six counties within six weeks 4,700 applications were made for 87,000 acres of land, which represents 136 square miles of country, equivalent to a belt about one mile wide extending rather further than from London to Bristol. Under these circumstances the work of the county councils must be very heavy. They are tackling the question in a way deserving of our best thanks, and by fostering these associations in every way in our power we hope to save the county councils a large amount of the detail work. I hope this Answer will satisfy the noble Viscount, but if he requires any further information regarding this society I shall be only too pleased to supply it.