§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Agriculture to state in tabular form the acreage under control of the 62 county agricultural committees; and which show a profit or a loss on their farming operations.
§ Mr. T. WilliamsThe following are the figures asked for in the first part of the Question:
Acreage by counties in England and Wales under the control of, or being farmed by county agricultural executive committees on 31st March, 1948.
12W
County. Acreage. ENGLAND. Bedfordshire 5,758 Berkshire 2,775 Buckinghamshire 7,123 Cambridgeshire 12,640 Cheshire 7,278 Cornwall 6,516 Cumberland 5,724 Derbyshire 3,024 Devon 9,780 Dorsetshire 4,508 Durham 3,378 Essex 40,963 Goucestershire 14,394 Herefordshire 3,353 Hertfordshire 8,392 Huntingdonshire and Soke of Peterborough. 9,682 Isle of Ely 2,403 Isle of Wight 307 Kent 19,721 Lancashire 3,004 Leicestershire 7,737 Lincolnshire— Holland 371 Kesteven 5,711 Lindsey 12,825 Middlesex 3,431 Norfolk 16,292 Northamptonshire 5,761 Northumberland 26,838
County. Acreage. Nottinghamshire 9,959 Oxfordshire 3,995 Rutland 5,225 Shropshire 3,840 Somersetshire 9,450 Southampton 12,601 Staffordshire 3,982 Suffolk— East 11,197 West 16,050 Surrey 12,992 Sussex— East 19,501 West 13,025 Warwickshire 14,266 Westmorland 4,591 Wiltshire 10,587 Worcestershire 4,479 Yorkshire— East Riding 7,727 North Riding 7,028 West Riding 7,708 WALES. Anglesey 698 Brecon 3,010 Cardigan 5,572 Carmarthen 8,028 Caernarvon 1,767 Denbigh 4,368 Flint 773 Glamorgan 1,820 Merioneth 1,620 Monmouth 2,883 Montgomery 6,861 Pembroke 8,605 Radnor 4,390 Total Acreage 478,297 Note: The above figures cover:
(a) Land held under requisition by committees (including land on which the requisition has been transferred from a Service Department): 354,609 acres;
(b) Land requisitioned or owned by Service Departments, but being cultivated under arrangements made with committees: 121,508 acres;
(c) Former grassland improvement stations under lease to the Minister: 2,180 acres.
As regards the second part, committees generally have not been required hitherto to include valuations in their farm accounts. Such information as is available is, therefore, incomplete, and I do not propose to publish it. I would how-ever ask the hon. Member to await the publication of the full Trading Accounts which, as I have explained in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr. Hurd) today, will show for committees as a whole the financial results of their farming operations.