§ Lieutenant-Colonel WEIGALLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture how many claims nave been made by tenant farmers against county war agricultural committees in reference to total loss of crop as a result of ploughing-out orders and when all proper precaution had been taken and rules of good husbandry observed; and whether, in any of these cases where claims have been recommended, the Board have subsequently offered the farmer a percentage only of the claim with an intimation that, unless accepted, the claim must stand over until the end of the present harvest?
Sir A. BOSCAWENApproximately 1,500 claims have been received from farmers in respect of total or partial failure of their crops on grassland, but the Board have given no general intimation of the kind stated in the question of my hon. and gallant Friend. In certain cases they have suggested that the settlement of claims should be postponed until a more accurate ascertainment of the loss can be arrived at. The Board are advised that the loss cannot be measured by considering only the expenditure and receipts of one season and that regard must also be had to the effect of the ploughing up of the grass in subsequent years.