§ Sir KINGSLEY WOODasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that Mrs. Burton, 45, Meads Road, Edgware, widow of Sergeant Detective Burton, who died a few months ago, is still under notice to quit the allotment held by her late husband at Edgware station; whether he is aware that the reason first advanced by the Great Northern Railway Company for the notice to quit was that Mrs. Burton was not going to cultivate the allotment herself, whereas she has given an undertaking that she intends to work the allotment personally; whether the Great Northern Railway Company now state that the allotments are held by their employés, whereas Sergeant-Detective Burton, who held this allotment for twelve years, was not an employé of the railway company, and that more than half of the allotments at this place are held by people who are not employés of the company; whether the employé to whom this particular allotment has been allocated could have obtained an allotment as conveniently situated, and the disturbance of Mrs. Burton, who has dug the plot, made all preparations, and incurred considerable expense for this season, could have been obviated; whether he is aware that the railway company have ordered another widow, Mrs. Hawkins, 6, Meads Road, Edgware, to quit her allotment immediately; whether he will communicate with the Great Northern Railway Company in order to prevent such discrimination against and hardship upon widows in reduced circumstances; and whether, failing a satisfactory reply, he will immediately exercise the compulsory powers under the Cultivation of Lands Order, schedule these particular allotments, and thus secure these two widows in the tenure of their plots?
Sir A. BOSCAWENI informed my hon. Friend on the 14th April last that the Board have no jurisdiction as regards allotments provided by Railway Companies, and have no power to interfere as regards their letting. Any tenants who have been given notice to quit will, I understand, be compensated for any work done. If these tenants desire other allotments they should apply to the local allotment authority whose duty it is to provide land for this purpose, but the Board are not prepared to utilise their powers under636W the Cultivation of Lands Order for the purpose of entry of land already cultivated as allotments.
§ Mr. HUGH MORRISONasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture what steps he proposes to take to satisfy the demand for small holdings and allotments at Bulford and Carrington; whether he is aware that the Wilts small holdings committee has approved eleven applicants for 210 acres, and seven applicants for two-and-a-half acre allotments at Bulford of whom five are ex-Service men, and of ten ex-Service men for 290 acres, and one civilian for twenty acres at Carrington; and why the letter of 1st April from the Wilts small holdings committee to the Board of Agriculture has remained unanswered?
Sir A. BOSCAWENIt is primarily the duty of the Wiltshire County Council to satisfy the demand for small holdings, and allotments exceeding I acre, at Bulford and Carrington. The Board have purchased 2,377 acres at Amesbury, under the Small Holdings Colonies Acts, for the purpose of establishing a settlement for ex-Service men, and the Wiltshire County Council have been informed in reply to their letter of the 1st April that if any applications from ex-Service men for land in the locality are forwarded to the Board they will endeavour to deal with the applicants direct. The delay in answering the letter referred to in the latter part of the question was caused by the great pressure of work in the Department and by the very inconvenient manner in which the Department is at present accommodated.
§ Sir K. WOODasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether thirty allotment holders on the Vi-Cocoa estate, Watford, have been removed from their holdings by the local urban district council; whether seventy-seven holders at King George's Avenue, Watford, have received notice to quit; whether he will urge on the local council the necessity of providing dispossessed holders with other land; whether fifty allotment holders at Oxley Grange, Watford, have received notice to quit in March, 1920; and for what purpose the land at Oxley Grange is required?
Sir A. BOSCAWENInquiries will be made into the matter, and the result will be communicated to my hon. Friend.