§ Mr. Ecclesasked the Minister of Agriculture (1) how the costs per head of maintaining girls in hostels managed by the W.L.A. in Wiltshire and by the Wiltshire W.A.E.C. compare with the charge to the Wiltshire W.A.E.C. for girls billeted on individual householders;
(2) the cost per head of running hostels for the W.L.A. in Wiltshire; and the figures for girls residing in hostels managed by the W.L.A. and for girls residing in hostels managed by the Wiltshire W A C, separately.
§ Mr. T. Williams:Approximate weekly costs of providing board and lodging for members of the Women's Land Army in Wiltshire are:
In hostels managed by the Wiltshire War Agricultural. Executive Cornrnittee—£ 8s. 0d.
255WIn hostels managed by the Women's Land Army—£ 15s. 0d.
In billets—£1 7s. 6d. to £1 10s. 0d.
Rent, maintenance and similar charges are not included in the hostel figures.
The cost per head of accommodation in hostels is influenced by capacity as well as other factors. Because of the distribution of workers it is usually easier to keep small hostels full or nearly full, and in Wiltshire the hostels managed by the War Agricultural Executive Committee have on the average only half the capacity of those managed by the Women's Land Army. For this reason the figures I have given for hostels are not comparable.