Viscountess ASTORasked the Minister of Agriculture how many of the tenants originally put on to smallholdings under the Acts of 1906 and 1919, respectively, are still in occupation, or have left to acquire larger holdings or have died?
§ Dr. ADDISONI regret that it is net possible to give the precise information required by the Noble Lady. An indication, however, of the measure of success attained by the men settled on smallholdings under the Act of 1908 (not 1908 as stated in the question) is given by the fact that returns obtained in 1918 indicated that at that date the number of failures was less than 5 per cent. of the total. Similarly returns obtained at 31st December, 1927, as to men settled under the Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 1919, indicated that the proportion of failures to that date among men settled under the very difficult conditions prevailing after the War was less than 15 per cent. Although exact information is not available, there is reason to believe that the changes of tenancy arising from all causes on county council estates during the past few years have been on the average less than 4 per cent. each year.
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Viscountess ASTORasked the Minister of Agriculture how many acres have been acquired by purchase and by hire, respectively, for smallholdings; and the number of separate holdings in each county in England and Wales?
§ Dr. ADDISONThe following statement gives the area of land purchased and
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— Area Purchased. Area Hired. Total Area. No. of Small Holdings. England. Acres. Acres. Acres. No. Bedfordshire … … … 9,510 3,737 13,247 1,803 Berkshire … … … 3,784 1,025 4,809 160 Bucks … … … 8,132 2,907 11,039 433 Cambs … … … 17,325 1,514 18,839 2,000 Cheshire … … … 10,106 23 10,129 328 Cornwall … … … 10,963 786 11,749 425 Cumberland … … … 518 845 1,363 62 Derby … … … 2,951 63 3,014 130 Devon … … … 13,567 2,378 15,945 791 Dorset … … … 5,715 4,920 10,635 401 Durham … … … 1,538 2,495 4,033 232 Essex … … … 6,832 307 7,139 369 Gloucester … … … 11,328 2,723 14,051 989 Hants … … … 3,224 1,459 4,683 558 Hereford … … … 4,257 519 4,776 162 Hertford … … … 4,611 1,849 6,460 299 Hunts … … … 10,019 1,083 11,102 725 Isle of Ely … … … 12,334 1,652 13,986 2,234 Isle of Wight. … … … 1,126 227 1,353 60 Kent … … … 5,462 307 5,769 323 Lancashire … … … 3,626 779 4,405 413 Leicester … … … 7,869 237 8,106 246 Lincs (Holland) … … … 9,762 3,321 13,083 1,062 Lincs (Kesteven) … … … 6,039 419 6,458 627 Lincs (Lindsey) … … … 7,977 529 8,506 407 Middlesex … … … 1,011 122 1,133 86 Norfolk … … … 23,644 4,219 27,863 2,249 Northampton … … … 3,028 1,413 4,441 309 Northumberland … … … 3,771 1,066 4,837 158 Notts … … … 3,752 535 4,287 280 Oxford … … … 4,975 1,819 6,794 270 Rutland … … … — 774 774 34 Salop … … … 5,719 515 6,234 267 Soke of Peterborough … … … 3,490 151 3,641 250 Somerset … … … 19,212 2,216 21,428 1,090 Staffs … … … 6,558 643 7,201 306 Suffolk, East … … … 4,024 209 4,233 185 Suffolk West … … … 7,476 141 7,617 318 Surrey … … … 2,314 195 2,509 267 Sussex, East … … … 1,832 501 2,333 154 Sussex, West … … … 2,040 1 2,041 120 Warwick … … … 5,024 433 5,457 273 Westmorland … … … 64 138 202 28 Wilts … … … 12,052 3,795 15,847 566 Worcester … … … 4,450 852 5,302 1,088 Yorks, East Riding … … … 6,381 1,611 7,992 382 Yorks, North Riding … … … 2,797 357 3,154 115 Yorks, West Riding … … … 12,477 932 13,409 548 County Boroughs … … … 5,578 1,048 6,626 774 Total England … … … 320,244 59,790 380,034 25,356 hired respectively for statutory smallholdings, and still retained for that purpose on 31st December, 1929, in each county and in county boroughs in England and Wales, together with the number of holdings. The figures do not include any smallholdings sold to the occupiers.
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— Area Purchased. Area Hired. Total Area. No. of Small Holdings. Wales. Acres. Acres. Acres. No. Anglesey … 5,706 556 6,262 246 Brecon … 173 996 1,169 58 Caernarvon … 3,014 17 3,031 92 Cardigan … 243 3,060 3,303 57 Carmarthen … 2,246 1,778 4,024 179 Denbighshire … 5,049 774 5,823 268 Flint … 3,415 162 3,577 155 Glamorgan … 2,759 3,339 6,098 214 Merioneth … 2,469 1,470 3,939 129 Monmouth … 5,174 463 5,637 185 Montgomery … 7,633 — 7,633 264 Pembroke … 4,545 872 5,417 189 Radnor … 2,272 368 2,640 95 County Boroughs … 474 258 732 34 Total Wales … 45,172 14,113 59,285 2,165 TOTAL ENGLAND AND WALES … 365,416 73,903 439,319 27,521