IX. ADMINISTRATION OF VARIOUS STATUTES AFFECTING AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1923. APPLICATIONS FOR CERTIFICATES. During the year the Board disposed of 10 applications from landlords of agricultural holdings for certificates under Section 12 (2) of this Act, that the tenant was not cultivating the holding according to the rules of good husbandry. Four certificates were granted and four were refused, while the remaining two applications were withdrawn. In three cases the tenant appealed against the Board's decision; in two cases the certificate granted by the Board was revoked by the arbiter, while in the remaining case the Board's decision was upheld. APPOINTMENT OF ARBITERS. Arbiters were appointed in 41 cases, and 74 applications for extensions of time for making awards were granted. The amount received in respect of fees was £21. 10s. 6d. No charges on estates were granted under Sections 21 to 24 of the Act. PROVISION OF ALLOTMENTS. Statistics. Early in the year, returns of the number and acreage of allotments under cultivation during 1926 were collected by the Board from all Town Councils and from 62 selected Parish Councils in urban and industrial areas. The statistics thus obtained gave a total of 18,268 allotments extending to 1,064 acres, showing a decrease of 1,474 allotments and of an area of 88 acres as compared with the corresponding figures for 1925. Allotments (Scotland) Act, 1922.-Two Town Councils applied to the Board for the issue of Orders authorising the compulsory acquisition by leasing of land for allotments. After making enquiry into the local conditions, the Board suggested to one of these Town Councils that suitable alternative land might be obtained by agreement. The Town Council subsequently arranged to make available for use for allotments a piece of ground owned by it and withdrew their application for the issue of an Order. The other Town Council desired to conserve for cultivation as allotments an area of land that had been used for that purpose for many years. As no effort had been made to secure other ground by agreement for the provision of allotments, the application for the issue of an Order authorising the compulsory acquisition of the land could not competently be considered. The Board endeavoured to assist the Town Council in coming to an arrangement with the prospective feuars of the land for the continuance of the use of a considerable portion of it for allotments, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. RENT AND MORTGAGE INTEREST (RESTRICTIONS) ACTS, Twenty applications were dealt with during the year for certificates under Section 5 (1) of the Act of 1920, to the effect that dwelling-houses were required for the occupation of persons engaged on work necessary for the proper working of agricultural holdings, or with whom contracts for employment on agricultural work had been entered into conditional on housing accommodation being provided. Of these applications, 16 were granted and 3 were refused, while at the close of the year one application was under consideration. The amount received in respect of fees was £35. 14s. CORN PRODUCTION ACTS (REPEAL) ACT, 1921. DESTRUCTION OF INJURIOUS WEEDS. Five notices were served by the Board under this Act during the year requiring occupiers of land to destroy injurious weeds. In one of these cases, where delay occurred in complying with the Board's requirements, the land is to be kept under observation in 1928. A considerable number of written warnings were issued by the Board to occupiers and these rendered the service of statutory notices unnecessary. In the case referred to in the Board's last Report where proceedings were instituted against an occupier, the defendant was found guilty and fined £3. RATS AND MICE (DESTRUCTION) ACT, 1919. At the Board's request local authorities carried out a further intensive campaign against rats and mice during the week commencing 28th March, the methods employed being similar to those recommended by the Board in previous years. Most of the local authorities, the naval and military authorities, and the railway companies participated in the campaign. From the reports received it was evident that the campaign was highly successful, outstanding features being the complete clearance of many seriously infested premises and the increasing use of gassing machines as a means of rat repression. Several local authorities reported a noticeable decrease in the number of rats and mice in their areas. The Board's Organising Officer, in addition to keeping in close touch during the year with local authorities, made frequent inspections of sewage works, refuse coups, slaughter-houses, and other premises liable to infestation by rats. At the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show demonstrations were given in the use of various appliances for the destruction of rats. The Board also arranged for a series of demonstrations at suitable centres in the use of calcium cyanide for the destruction of rats in burrows and refuse dumps. Many local authorities who were satisfied as to the efficacy of the process purchased the necessary outfit for use in their areas. OTHER AGRICULTURAL PESTS. During the year the Board continued their grant to the County Council of Aberdeen in aid of the scheme carried out in that County for the destruction of agricultural pests. The report on operations conducted during 1926 showed that some 43,000 rooks, 4,000 wood-pigeons, 1,900 sparrows, 300 starlings, 200 gulls, 556 brown hares, 60 squirrels, and 135 foxes and cubs were destroyed. The net cost of the scheme was £164. 12s. 10d., the amount of the Board's grant in aid being £64. 12s. 10d. The Treasury decided in November 1927 that the grant in aid of this scheme should be discontinued. HEATHER BURNING (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1926. No application for the issue of an Order under this Act was received by the Board during the year. Several enquiries were, however, received and in reply thereto the mode of procedure prescribed by the Act was explained to the applicants. DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS AND PESTS ACT, 1927. This Act received Royal Assent on 22nd December 1927. In its application to Scotland, it provides that by an Order made under the Destructive Insects and Pests Acts, 1877 and 1907, the Board may take such measures as they may deem expedient in connection with any agricultural or horticultural crop for preventing the spread of any destructive insect that has been introduced into Great Britain, and may require the removal or destruction of any crop infected with such insect, or any crop to or by means of which the insect is likely to spread. For the purpose of the Acts "crop" is defined to include seed, plant, or any part thereof, while "insect" includes bacteria and other vegetable or animal organisms, and any agent causative of a transmissible crop disease. Provision is made for the payment, out of moneys provided by Parliament, of compensation for crops so removed or destroyed, but there is a proviso that the amount of compensation, etc., so paid in Scotland and England shall not in any one year, without the consent of the Treasury, exceed the sum of £2,000. The maximum penalty that may be imposed in respect of a second or subsequent offence against an Order made under the Destructive Insects and Pests Acts is increased to £50, and the period within which proceedings for such an offence may be instituted is extended to twelve months when the offence is in connection with the movement, sale, planting, etc., of potatoes. The Act also empowers the Board to impose a fee in respect of any certificate given in pursuance of an Order made under the Acts after an inspection. DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS AND PESTS ACTS, 1877 AND 1907. WART DISEASE OF POTATOES (SCOTLAND) ORDER, 1923. The total number of farms or holdings exceeding half an acre in extent (exclusive of private gardens) wholly or partially scheduled as infected with Wart Disease was 268 at 31st December 1927, 7 new outbreaks on farms having been reported during the year. Outbreaks were also reported in 96 gardens and allotments. Several contraventions of the Order on the part of occupiers of gardens, etc., who planted unauthorised varieties of potatoes and failed to report the existence of Wart Disease in their crops, were discovered during the year and were duly reported to the proper local authorities. While in several instances convictions were secured against the offenders, other local authorities decided that for the year in question a warning to the occupiers concerned would suffice. The Board again issued in 1927 a general licence authorising the planting, under specified conditions, of certain first-early varieties susceptible to Wart Disease. This licence did not, however, apply to (1) any land on which Wart Disease had occurred or which had been scheduled as infected with Wart Disease by the service of a notice on the occupier; (2) any land situated in certain specified districts where Wart Disease is more or less prevalent. With regard to the districts specified at (2) the Board considered individual applications for the desired authority and granted licences in cases where it was considered that this would not involve the risk of the spread of Wart Disease. The number of such licences issued was 469. Special licences were also granted in 13 cases for the growing of seedlings or new varieties. INSPECTION OF GROWING CROPS OF POTATOES. The scheme for the inspection of growing crops of potatoes with a view to the issue of certificates and reports as to purity was carried out as in previous years. About 5,770 applications were received, representing an area of 62,903 acres, of which 33,214 acres were of immune varieties and 29,689 of non-immune varieties. To assist the Board's Inspectors in the work of examining the crops, 91 temporary Inspectors were employed. Of these, 64 had previously served in that capacity but underwent further training, while the remainder were selected after a period of instruction and a competitive test. Tables showing the total acreage of each variety inspected, the grades of purity attained, etc., are appended. |