HC Deb 25 January 1929 vol 224 cc491-4W
Brigadier-General CLIFTON BROWN

asked the Minister of Agriculture, how of persons, specifying men, women, boys, and girls, on the Devonport and Plymouth Employment Exchanges for the month of December, 1928?

Mr. BETTERTON

The following table shows the number of persons on the live registers of the Employment Exchanges at Plymouth and Devonport, respectively, on each Monday of December, 1928:

1928, and the particular areas in which they were reported?

Mr. GUINNESS

The following statement shows the number of cases of foot-and-mouth disease, and the counties concerned, during the months of October, November and December, 1928;

many counties have demonstration farms; in what counties are they; whether these farms showed a profit or loss in 1927 and 1928; what were their profits or losses;

and what has been the cost to the taxpayer and to the ratepayer in those cases where farm losses have been incurred.

Mr. GUINNESS

Twenty counties in England and Wales have demonstration farms. With the exception of the closing account for one farm in 1927–28, all these farms showed losses in the financial years 1926–27 and 1927–28. Details are given in the table below. The losses include loan and landlords' charges, which do not appear in an ordinary

Losses on County Educational Farms in England and Wales.
County. Farm. Loss (including subsidising departments, experimental work and loan and landlord's charges).
Year ended 31st March, 1927. Year ended 31st March, 1928.
£ £
Cheshire … … Reaseheath … … 4,878 2,948
Cumberland … … Newton Rigg … … 681 575
Durham … … Hougball … … 5,692 1,926
Hampshire … … Sparsholt … … 1,568 1,712
Hertfordshire … … Oaklands … … 2,056 1,848
Kent … … Grove End … … 1,348 1,280
Lines. (Holland) … … Kirton … … 2,204 2,114
Northamptonshire … … Moulton … … 1,282 1,280
Northumberland … … Cockle Park … … 594 323
Somerset … … Cannington Court … … 2,421 2,962
Staffordshire … … Rodbaston … … 1,457 3,173
East Sussex … … Wales … … 1,155 1,653
West Sussex … … Kingsham … … 757 551
Yorkshire … … Carforth … … 1,498 (profit) 232*
,, … … Askham Bryan … … — 3,184
Carnarvonshire … … Madryn … … 411 611
Carmarthenshire … … Pibwrlwyd … … 1,693 1,763
Denbighshire … … Llysfasi … … 2,779 2,375
Flintshire … … Padeswood Hall … … 201 360
Glamorganshire … … Tregroes … … 573 543
Monmouthshire … … Usk … … 385 1,112
*The lease of this farm expired during this year and the Authority acquired a new farm at Askham Bryan.

trading account, and they would be considerably reduced if figures representing fair rents were substituted for these charges. Moreover, it is important to remember that for experimental and educational purposes much work is done on these farms which would not be done on an ordinary commercial farm, and materially adds to the cost of conducting them. Two-thirds of the losses are normally borne by State funds, and one-third by the county rates.