§ 108. Mr. Thornton-Kemsleyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total area of land farmed by the Department of Agriculture at the latest available date; and what proportion of this is of the total area of land under cultivation in Scotland.
§ Mr. WoodburnThe total area of land farmed by the Department of Agriculture for Scotland is 203,407 acres. This represents 1.3 per cent. of the total land under tillage, grass and rough grazings in Scotland as shown in the Agricultural Returns on 4th June, 1947.
§ 109. Mr. Thornton-Kemsleyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Scottish taxpayer has any means of finding out whether the Department of Agriculture's farming activities are run at a loss or a profit.
§ Mr. WoodburnA financial account of the activities of the Department of Agriculture in connection with land settlement can be found in the appropriation accounts. Other farming activities of the Department have consisted mainly of reorganising and putting into a satisfactory state of cultivation lands of which posses-30W sion have been taken under D.R.51 and no trading accounts have been published.
§ 110. Mr. Thornton-Kemsleyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland in what respect the Department of Agriculture's farming operations are subject to the jurisdiction of the agricultural executive committees.
§ Mr. WoodburnMy duties in regard to the cultivation, management and use of land for agricultural purposes have been delegated to agricultural executive committees and during the war years they were responsible for the farming of a considerable proportion of subjects of which possession was taken by the Department of Agriculture because of bad husbandry. Co-operation between my Department and the Committees is close and I am not aware of any case in which the wishes of the agricultural executive committee with respect to land occupied by the Department have not been met.