§ 11.15 a.m.
§ Viscount MASSEREENE and FERRARDMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether in view of their policy of selling Government-owned farms to tenants at two-thirds of their prevailing value they will include a proviso that in the interests of good husbandry the tenant 1325 should not sell his farm before a certain period has elapsed except in special circumstances.
The MINISTER of STATE, MINISTRY of AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES and FOOD (Earl Ferrers)No, my Lords. Such a restraint on ownership would be a major legal change which the Government do not consider appropriate to apply to sales whether of privately-owned or publicly-owned land.
§ Viscount MASSEREENE and FERRARDMy Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that Answer, may I ask whether he agrees that this is taxpayers' money, and that in those cases where the tenant has been installed by the Government he has received large grants and loans to provide himself with live and dead stock, presumably for the purpose of farming, not for making a quick profit?
Earl FERRERSMy Lords, the position of a tenant of publicly-owned land is exactly the same as that of a tenant of privately-owned land. He is in the market to purchase that land at the prevailing price. It so happens that the price of land for a Ministry tenant is higher than if it were sold on the open market as let land.