§ Mr. HANNONasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he can state the proportion of the sum of £409,000 and accrued interest due to the Ministry 62W from the purchases of the Ministry's flax production plant and stocks has been received; and what steps, if any are being taken to enforce payment of the outstanding amount?
§ Sir R. SANDERSThe sum of £409,000 represented balances of purchase money owing in respect of three groups of factories, and was made up as follows, namely:
£ Peterborough group … 331,000 Yeovil group … 30,000 Fife group … 48,000 In addition to the above sums, and to the interest that accrued thereon, there were owing to the Ministry in respect of expenditure incurred during periods of management on behalf of the respective purchasers the following amounts, namely:
£ Peterborough group … 12,120 Yeovil group … 11,120 Fife group … 3,030 No further payment has been received in respect of the Peterborough group of factories, and only £4,500 in respect of the Yeovil group. The affairs of each of the two companies which purchased these groups are now in the hands of a receiver and manager acting for the debenture holders, in which category the Ministry is included. It is feared that only a comparatively small sum will be received in respect of the amounts outstanding in these two cases. The accrued interest on the unpaid purchase money in respect of the Peterborough and Yeovil groups is now approximately as follows, namely:
£ Peterborough … … 52,000 Yeovil … … 2,000 The sum of £10,000 was accepted on 31st March last in full discharge of all sums due from the purchasers of the Fife group of factories, including accrued interest on purchase money amounting to approximately £5,440.
§ Mr. A. HERBERTasked the Minister of Agriculture what interest the Government now holds in Wessex Flax Factories, Limited; what is the present position of that company; whether he is aware that the company owes a considerable sum to growers of flax; and whether he will do anything to enable them to obtain that sum?
63W
§ Sir R. SANDERSThe Government now holds £32,500 debentures in the Wessex Flax Factories, Limited, which was formed in 1920 to purchase seven flax factories established during the War in Somerset and Dorset by the Flax Production Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the stock in hand. This sum represents the unredeemed portion of a sum of £37,000, being £30,000 balance of purchase money and £7,000 on account of expenditure incurred by the Ministry during a period of management on behalf of the purchasers. A further sum of £4,120 is due to the Ministry under the latter head. Interest on the debentures is unpaid since September, 1922, and amounts at the present time to approximately £2,000. The company's affairs are now in the hands of a receiver, and I understand that, in addition to the debt to the Ministry, it owes about £11,000 to bankers and £13,000 to growers of flax in addition to £3,500 to the Inland Revenue and £2,500 to general creditors. When the assets of the company are realised the Government will be prepared to review the situation and to consider whether some relief cannot be given to the growers.