§ Commander O. LOCKER-LAMPSONasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture what cost has been incurred by the county of Huntingdonshire and the Board of Agriculture over the recent Ouse drainage litigation: whether the expenditure of the county will fall upon the Huntingdonshire rates, and what addition to these will be necessary; and upon whom the expenditure incurred by the Board will fall?
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Sir A. BOSCAWENThe Ministry has no information available as to the costs incurred by the Huntingdonshire County Council in opposing the Ouse Drainage Provisional Order. The points raised in the second part of the question are matters for the Council to decide. As regards the Ministry's own expenses, no exact figure is available at the present stage; but under the provisions of the Order such expenses are a first charge on the rates leviable within the district comprised in the Order.