§ Colonel Ponsonbyasked the Minister of Agriculture what arrears of acreage payments are outstanding for 1946; to what extent his regulations permit a county agricultural committee to set off any acreage payment due to a fanner against any debt due from the farmer to the county agricultural committee for labour or contract work.
§ Mr. T. WilliamsArrears Of 1946 acreage payments are nil or insignificant. As regards the latter part of the Question, my instructions to county war agricultural committees are that a debt due from a farmer to a committee is to be set off to the fullest possible extent against an acreage payment and/or other grant for which he may be eligible, except that no set-off should normally be made without the farmer's consent against a payment under the Acreage Payments (Flood Emergency) Scheme, 1947.