§ Lieut.-Colonel Thornton-Kemsleyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware of the necessity for raising the ceiling for W.L.A. recruitment in the county of Kincardine from the present figure of 110 to at least 130 if the urgent demand for labour in this country is to be met.
Mr. JohnstonRepresentations in this sense have been made to me not only by the Agricultural Executive Committee for Kincardineshire, but by many other Agricultural Executive Committees throughout Scotland. The decision that recruitment for the Scottish Women's Land Army should be permitted only to the extent necessary to replace wastages occurring after 31st December, 1943, was taken by the Government after a most exhaustive examination of the nation's man and woman-power resources and of the competing claims of the Services and of industry, including war production and agriculture. There is no prospect meantime of any change in the position, and I regret therefore that it is not possible to accede to the requests I have received for higher quotas.