§ Sir A. SINCLAIRasked the Secretary of State for Scotland the amount of money voted by Parliament, the amount applied for, and the total payments actually made, for land drainage in Scotland each year from 1924–25 till the present year?
Mr. W. ADAMSONThe particulars are as follow:
Year. Amount voted by Parliament. Amount of grants applied for. Total payments made. £ £ £ 1924–25 … 43,500 109,543 29,831 1925–26 … 16,500 25,417 9,110 1926–27 … 20,625 38,573 14,732 1927–28 … 10,950 31,777 7,767 1928–29 … 13,010 34,513 10,056 1929–30 … 15,750 37,742 11,829* * Claims to the amount of £67 are still outstanding. NOTE.—In each year the amount of the grants approved was equal to the amount voted by Parliament. Some farmers, however, abandon their proposals and fail to notify the Department of Agriculture in time to allow them to offer grants elsewhere; and others are often prevented from carrying out their full programme of work by adverse weather, shortage of labour or tiles, sickness, etc. As a result the actual payments made in each year are less than the amount of grants approved. In the year 1930–31 Parliament has provided £29,950 for this service. Approximately the whole amount has already been allocated among suitable applicants. The grants applied for amounted to £40,215.