§ Sir A. SINCLAIRasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what number of small holdings and enlargements have been constituted in Scotland each year since the War; what was the total cost of these schemes in each year for small holdings and enlargements, respectively; what is the total number of applicants for small holdings on the Board of Agriculture's list at the present moment; and what number of new holdings and enlargements, respectively, he proposes to constitute throughout Scotland during the current year?
§ Sir J. GILM0URThe numbers of new holdings and enlargements constituted by the Board during the years mentioned are as follow:
Year. New Holdings. Enlargemants. Total. 1919 … … 282 114 396 1920 … … 227 90 317 1921 … … 415 307 722 1922 … … 433 304 737 1923 … … 322 108 430 1924 … … 269 126 395 1925 … … 102 113 215 1926 … … 148 47 195 With regard to the question of costs, I should explain that payments and receipts in connection with schemes of land settlement are spread over periods of years; that consequently the money transactions in any specified year are not wholly in respect of and do not represent the total expenditure on holdings constituted during that year; and that, having regard to the fact that schemes 1620W are usually of a composite nature, it is not practicable to separate costs of new holdings and enlargements. I append, however, for the information of the hon. and gallant Member a note of the nett capital expenditure (i.e., excluding annual payments and receipts) on schemes of land settlement for each of the years 1919–20 to 1926–27, inclusive:
£ s. d. 1919–20 … … 182,474 14 1 1920–21 … … 609,555 2 0 1921–22 … … 385,661 2 3 1922–23 … … 192,046 13 1 1923–24 … … 205,211 18 9 1924–25 … … 141,122 19 11 1925–26 … … 96,014 2 4 1926–27 … … 130,542 19 8 The outstanding applications on the Board's lists at 30th June, 1927, were 6,940 for new holdings and 3,298 for enlargements.
It is anticipated that during the present year 78 new holdings and 60 enlargements will be constituted by the Board.