Captain BATRURSTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that several of the overseas Dominions are offering agricultural land in large quantities for the after-war land settlement of men belonging to the British Navy and Army on easy and attractive terms as to rent, cost of buildings, and equipment, and a very low rate of interest on loans for the provision of stock and working capital in addition to a free passage; and whether, in view of the importance of detaining at home after the War the largest possible number of our adult male population, the Government propose to offer similiarly generous terms to those ex-Service men who would prefer to settle upon land in Great Britain if facilities are afforded to them to do so?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe Treasury will be prepared to consider carefully any representations that may be made to them by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries with regard to the terms on which money can be advanced for the new small-holdings colonies. My hon. Friend is, of course, aware that the problem of land settlement in the Dominions is not the same as in the United Kingdom, and that the special need for, and the economic prospects of, new settlers in the former case may justify exceptional treatment which could not necessarily be accorded in this country.