§ Mr. TIMOTHY DAVIESasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture if he will state the number of applications received by the Lindsey County Council for holdings under the Small Holdings Act of 1908 up to the 31st December, 1910; the number of applicants approved as suitable and the number of acres required by them; and the number of applicants provided with holdings and the number of acres?
§ Sir E. STRACHEY
Number of applications 715 Number provisionally approved 524 Number of acres required 9,502 Number of applicants satisfied 168 Number of acres provided 2,202
§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture why it is that in respect of the counties of Bedford, Gloucester, Hereford, Hertford, Soke of Peterborough, Nottingham, Warwick and Worcester, the Board are unable to state how many of the applicants have been approved as suitable applicants; whether it is the duty of the Commissioners, acting under the directions of the Board, to ascertain the demand in the several counties; and whether the Board will instruct their Commissioners to obtain any further returns from the councils which have not supplied these particulars?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYThe Board see no reason why, as in the ease of other counties, these figures should not be given, and will call for them at once.
§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture in what counties the Board, acting through their Commissioners, have already prepared and carried out schemes under Sections 4 (2) and 6 (2) of the Small Holdings Act, 1908; how much land has been comprised in such schemes; and how many applicants have been provided for?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYTwo such schemes, the Borough of Portsmouth and the Soke of Peterborough. The former comprises seventy-three acres and the latter 200 acres. No applicants under these schemes have as yet been placed on the land.
§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture 784W if he will state when the report on the administration of the Small Holdings Act of 1910 will be ready?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYThis report is with the printers and it is hoped to issue it before Easter.
§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether the Board have yet exercised any of the powers conferred on them by Sections 20 and 49 (3) of the Small Holdings Act, 1908, under which the Board may themselves acquire land in any part of the country, and, after dividing it, fencing it, and erecting houses and other buildings upon it, as required, in order to adopt it for small holdings, may let it to applicants directly without the intervention of a county council, and form co-operative societies and credit banks amongst their tenants; and whether, in case of their not having yet exercised these powers, they have any intention of doing so?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYThe answer to both parts of the question is in the negative.
§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether his attention has been called to the fact that in the county of Derby eight applicants have been provided for out of 179, in the Soke of Peterborough 14 out of 119, in Middlesex 12 out of 219, in East Sussex 19 out of 208, in West Sussex 5 out of 146, and in the North Riding of Yorkshire 7 out of 299, so that in these six counties only 65 men have been provided for in three years out of 1,170 applications; whether the Board considers this to be a satisfactory rate of progress; and, if not, whether they have taken, or are taking, any steps to assist the 1,105 disappointed applicants?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYThe 1,105 disappointed applicants to whom my hon. Friend refers include those who have been rejected as unsuitable, those who have withdrawn, and those who have obtained land privately, being only about 270 unsatisfied. In the Soke of Peterborough the Board have declared the county council in default, and have made an Order directing the Commissioners to carry out a scheme. In the North Riding a special Commissioner was appointed, and his reports have been sent to that county council.
§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture how 785W many of the eighteen schemes proposed by their Special Commissioner, Mr. E. O. Fordham, for the supply of small holdings in Wiltshire, and forwarded more than a year ago by the Board of Agriculture to the Wilts County Council, have yet been carried into effect?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYSeven schemes have been submitted and confirmed resulting in the acquisition of 508 acres wholly or partly carrying out these schemes.
§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether the Board have yet inquired as to the circumstances which led to the eviction of James Gardiner, of Carnforth, in Lancashire, by his landlord, Charles Gillow, at a time when James Gardiner was applying for land under the Small Holdings Act; whether they are satisfied that this eviction was carried out in consequence of James Gardiner's application for land, as stated by their special commissioner, and was a deliberate attempt on the part of Charles Gillow to defeat and discredit the working of the Act; and whether the Board will undertake to see that James Gardiner obtains the small holding he requires?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYInquiry has been made. The evidence obtainable by the Board is not sufficient to justify the statement that a deliberate attempt was made by Mr. Gillow to defeat and discredit the working of the Act. It is not possible to undertake to provide a house and land for Mr. Gardiner, as he admits that he is not able to pay such a rent as would secure the county council against loss.