HL Deb 27 July 1943 vol 128 cc809-10
LORD DAVIES

My Lords, I beg to ask the question standing in my name.

[The question was as follows:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether their attention has been called to the growing indignation caused by the operation of the existing regulations governing the eviction of farmers for alleged bad husbandry; and whether they will take immediate steps to provide in such cases the elementary right of appeal to an impartial tribunal or other authority entirely unconnected with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.]

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (THE DUKE OF NORFOLK)

My Lords, the powers of taking possession and terminating tenancies are exercised for the purpose of maintaining supplies of food essential to the life of the community. It is, of course, inevitable that considerable hardship is inflicted on the individual concerned, but there is no ground for the implication in the noble Lord's question that the powers have been exercised without justification, impartiality or discretion. It is only natural that a sense of grievance should arise on the part of a dispossessed farmer and his immediate circle, and it is easy to build up a case of hardship on purely personal grounds by taking into account only one side of the story. There is, however, no evidence of growing indignation in any responsible and well-informed quarter.

A decision to dispossess a farmer is only arrived at after protracted, careful and exhaustive treatment of the case by which every opportunity is given to the farmer to adopt measures that will make it unnecessary for the executive committee to take drastic action, and any decision of the Committee requires the approval of my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, which approval is given through the Ministry's Land Commissioner. My right honourable friend is responsible to Parliament for the actions of executive committees, and the setting up of appeal tribunals will impair the responsibility both of executive committees and the Minister. My right honourable friend explained to the House of Commons on the 9th October, 1941, the reasons why there was no necessity or justification for setting up appeal tribunals, and after careful investigation of the cases which had been brought to his notice, my right honourable friend has yet to find an instance where the action of the executive committee in dispossessing a farmer was not justified. In these circumstances the answer to the last part of the noble Lord's question is in the negative.

LORD DAVIES

Can the noble Duke tell us whether an evicted farmer is informed of his delinquencies in not cultivating his farm in accordance with the rules of good husbandry?

THE DUKE OF NORFOLK

The whole situation is discussed between members of the district committee and the farmer on his own land, and any representations which he makes are noted by the district committee. They inform the executive committee, who then visit the farm themselves and go round the farm again with the farmer, who is allowed to make representations. It is only after he has been interviewed by the executive committee in their office, as well as on his own land, that any representations are made to my right honourable friend. If it will be of any use to the noble Lord, as it is rather a long statement, I will send him a copy of the statement made by my right honourable friend on October 9, 1941.