§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will introduce legislation to regulate agricultural leases in the Falkland Islands so that (a) sick farmers have security of tenure, (b) tenants are not prevented from undertaking economic activities not approved of by their landlords and (c) tenants cannot be required to purchase materials from and sell products to their landlord alone.
§ Mr. RentonNo. Such issues are a matter for the Falkland Islands Government.
§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the numbers of applications for purchase of land now approved by him, or the Government of the Falkland Islands since June 1982, the acreages of each unit for which agreement has been concluded, the names of the persons or companies from whom purchases have been made together with the respective acreage concerned and the total of loans and the purchase price concerned.
§ Mr. RentonThe sale of land in the Falkland Islands is a matter for the Falkland Islands Government (FIG). Since June 1982 they have been associated with the subdivision of two farms. In 1983 they purchased from Packe Brothers and Company Limited, Packe Brothers farm in its entirety for £500,000. The farm, comprising roughly 148,000 acres, has been sub-divided into eight sections, ranging in size from 10,250 to 28,700 acres. All of these units have been on-sold to individual Falkland Islanders.
The FIG have also recently approved mortgages totalling £210,160 for the purchasers of five sections at San Carlos farm out of a total of eight offered for sale by the San Carlos Sheep Fanning Company Limited. The five sections, ranging in size from 7,350 to 25,000 acres, represent about three-quarters of the total area of about 108,000 acres. One purchaser of these sections has also bought one of the remaining three sections, the sale of which was financed privately.