§ Mr. LIVINGSTONEasked the Secretary for Scotland whether financial aid is available to small landholders in the Western Isles who desire to improve their holdings by land drainage; and, having regard to the saturated condition of some of these holdings owing to heavy rainfall, is he prepared to consider any individual applications?
Mr. ADAMSONI would refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to his question on this subject on the 17th July. I explained in that answer that the land drainage scheme for the relief of unemployment is not considered suitable for application to the Western Isles because of the expense and difficulty of supervising a large number of small and isolated operations and the difficulty of securing the necessary administrative and financial control. I further stated that it has been found that the construction and improvement of roads is the most suitable useful work in these areas both from the point of view of relieving distress and of administration, and that relatively larger sums have been expended on the road works for the relief of distress in the Western Isles than on the land drainage scheme elsewhere. In view of these reasons financial aid from the funds provided for relief of unemployment is not available to small landholders in the Western Isles for the purpose mentioned in the first part of the question, and individual applications cannot therefore be considered.