§ Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTnext asked the President of the Board of Agriculture what is the average price per perch at which land in the Forest of Dean has been sold by the Crown for building purposes during the last ten years; whether, in view of the demand for land for cottage building owing to colliery developments in that district and the inability of either the district councils or working miners to pay such prices as have hitherto been demanded by the Crown officials for this purpose, he has decided to reduce the price of building plots within the area of the forest; and, if so, in what localities and at what price will such plots be sold?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI am not able on such short notice to state the average price per perch at which land in the Forest of Dean has been sold by the Crown for building purposes during the last ten years. I am now negotiating with two of the Rural District Councils with a view to selling them sites for cottages at as low a price as is compatible with the provisions of the Crown Lands Acts, and in the event of there being any demand by working miners for such sites I should be willing to treat them in the same way. I am not yet in a position to say what the prices will be.
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