§ Captain CLIVEasked the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, if he is aware that expenditure incurred now by county councils for small holdings, though repayable by the Treasury, is not actually repaid until the annual figures have been audited in September or October, 1910; and if the Board can arrange to repay county councils without such a long delay?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYExpenditure incurred in proceedings in relation to the acquisition of land is repaid by the Board as soon as it has been paid by the county councils. It is only in the case of the expenses of ascertaining the demand for small holdings that the Treasury regulations require that the accounts of the Council shall be audited before repayment is made. These expenses at the outset may be considerable, but the recurring annual charge will probably be quite a small one, and the date of its payment in future years is not likely to be inconvenient so far as the financial arrangements of County Councils are concerned.