§ Mr. T. GRIFFITHSasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he has received any complaints regarding the alleged official interference and arbitrary conduct of the director of agriculture in the County of Bedford; whether this official has recently increased the rents of small lots of grass land in the parish of Lidlington, Bedfordshire, by £2 10s. per acre; whether this official pays the same amount of attention regarding clean cultivation to the large farmers as to the smallholders; whether his salary and expenses are defrayed from State funds; and, in view of the serious position now being created amongst both civilian and ex-service smallholders, he will have inquiries made into the matter?
Sir A. BOSCAWENI have no reason to suppose that the Director of Agriculture in the County of Bedford is not carrying out his duties in a proper manner. I understand that, acting on the instructions of the small holdings subcommittee of the county agricultural committee, he has recommended that the rents of certain pre-War holdings should be revised to bring them into closer agreement with the changed value of agricultural land, but in view of the fact that it has been clearly explained to every smallholder that he has the right to submit his case to arbitration if he is not satisfied that the proposed new rent is reasonable, I do not consider it necessary to make any special inquiries into the matter. So far as I am aware, there is no ground for the suggestion contained in the third part of the hon. Member's question. As regards the fourth part of the question, the salary and expenses of the director are in the main recoverable from public funds.