HEATHER-BURNING.

The Defence of the Realm Regulation 2 M (10), by which the legal period for heather-burning was extended, continued in operation until 31st August, the date of the termination of the war as fixed by Order in, Council of 10th August 1921.

On 15th September a notice was issued to the press drawing attention to the effect of the Order in Council referred to on the powers conferred by the Regulation.

KILLING OF DEER.

The Killing of Deer (Scotland) Order, 1918, made by the Board under Defence of the Realm Regulation 2 Q, under which an agricultural tenant in Scotland was authorised to kill by any means available deer trespassing on his holding, ceased to be operative on 31st August, the official date of the termination of the war. Publicity was given to this fact by the issue of a notice to the press.

Prior to the annulment of the Order the Board were urged in two cases to withdraw the powers conferred thereby on the tenants of particular holdings. In one case the representations were made by the proprietrix of an Inverness-shire deer forest in relation to the actings of the tenant of the home farm on the estate. After careful consideration, the Board were satisfied. that a case had not been established for granting the application. In the other case, following on representations made by the shooting tenant and after local enquiry, the Board suspended the powers conferred by the Order on the tenant of a Perthshire farm.

KILLING OF GAME, ETC.

The Defence of the Realm Regulation 2 R was directly affected in part by the passing of the Agriculture Act, 1920, Section 9 of which in effect provided that the powers conferred on the Board by the Regulation with regard to the protection of crops, etc., from damage by rabbits or vermin should be substituted as from 1st January 1921 by the powers conferred by Section 10 of the Corn Production Act, 1917. With regard to the other provisions of the Regulation relative to damage by birds, hares, etc., the Board took the view that these remained unaffected by the Agriculture Act. No further Orders were, however, issued by the Board during the year under the Regulation, which lapsed as a whole on 31st August.

Having regard to the coming into force of Section 19 of the Corn Production Act, 1917, as from 1st January, the Board decided to revoke at the earliest convenient date their general Orders of 4th April and 14th June 1917, made under Defence of the Realm Regulation 2 R, dealing with the taking and killing of rabbits by occupiers of agricultural holdings. Both Orders were revoked with effect as from 30th April.

The Rabbits (Freeland Estate) Order of 28th August 1920, referred to in the Board's Ninth Report, was also cancelled in April.

Reference may also be made to the issue, in July, of the Report of the Game and Heather-Burning (Scotland) Committee, appointed by the Secretary for Scotland in November 1919.

PROVISION OF ALLOTMENTS.

Statistics. With a view to ascertaining the number and acreage of the allotments under cultivation in Scotland up to the end of the year 1920, the Board issued a circular early in the year to Town Councils and selected Parish Councils in industrial areas. The statistics thus obtained showed a total of 40,525 allotments extending to 2,527 acres, or a decrease in the numbers for the preceding year in the same localities of fully 1,000 allotments and of an area of over 100 acres.

Allotments created under Defence of the Realm Regulation 2 L.— Having regard to the passing of the Land Settlement (Scotland) Act, 1919, Part III. of which simplified the machinery for the provision of permanent allotments by Town Councils and Parish Councils, and with a view to limiting their financial obligations under the Regulation, the Board decided to bring to a close the various schemes that had been inaugurated during the war under the powers conferred by Defence of the Realm Regulation 2 L. They accordingly issued, on 2nd April, the Cultivation of Lands (Scotland) Revocation Order, 1921, determining the powers delegated to Town Councils by the Cultivation of Lands (Scotland) Orders, and fixing 28th November 1921 as the date on which the tenancy of all "unoccupied " land entered on under these Orders should cease. The Revocation Order was purposely issued early in the year so as to give Local Authorities timeous notice of its effect on schemes under their jurisdiction and to allow them time to avail themselves of the provisions of the Land Settlement (Scotland) Act, 1919, in the event of such a course being deemed necessary. From returns received it appeared that the following areas of land had been cultivated as allotments under the Regulation:

1. Occupied land entered on by Town Councils

with the written consent of the occupiers 79 456 acres. 2. Unoccupied land entered on by Town Councils (consent not necessary)

....

3. Land entered on by Town Councils and Parish Councils with the sanction of the Board

144.945

59.777 99

As indicated above, the Revocation Order terminated the occupancy of all land coming under heading (2) as at 28th November. All the cases coming under headings (1) and (3) were reviewed by the Board and the relevant circumstances

taken into consideration with a view to deciding the most suitable and equitable date for the termination of the tenancies. In no instance, however, was it thought necessary or expedient to sanction occupancy under Defence of the Realm Regulation 2 L. after 28th November and the position at the end of the year was, therefore, that no land in Scotland was specifically held under the Regulation for allotment purposes.

The leases of the allotment holders on Balephetrish Farm, Tiree, were terminated at Martinmas, in anticipation of the farm being taken over for the purpose of a land settlement scheme.

Three compensation claims were settled by the Board in respect of allotment schemes instituted under the Regulation. These may be summarised as follows:

Payment made by the Board.

£10 in full of all claims for compensation to former tenant in respect of year ended 31st December 1920, at which date the Town Council's tenancy

under

the Regulation ceased.

£57. 6s. 4d., being amount awarded by the arbiter in a reference between the Board and the former tenant in respect of three years' occupancy under the Regulation. The Board recovered £12. 0/6. from the Town Council.

A sum of £20 to enable the Town Council to meet the proprietor's claim.

In addition to the above-mentioned payments, a sum of £50 was paid to a Caithness landowner as an ex gratia payment based on loss of rent in respect of about 9 acres of land cultivated as allotments for 4 years.

Land Settlement (Scotland) Act, 1919.-In addition to the ten cases carried forward from the year 1920, six new applications were made to the Board (two by Parish Councils and four by Town Councils) for the issue of Orders for the compulsory leasing of land for allotments.

Two compulsory leasing Orders were issued providing for (1) the acquisition of 2:44 acres of land in Charterhall Road, Edinburgh, and (2) the acquisition of 3 acres of land in Cockenzie and Port Seton. In the case of the Edinburgh scheme the Order was subsequently cancelled, as the Town Council succeeded in arranging a lease of the land by agreement. Three draft Orders for the leasing of land were issued (following on applications by Lairg Parish Council, Sutherland, Kilarrow and Kilmeny Parish Council, Islay, and Dornoch Town Council respectively), but one of these (the Lairg case) was not proceeded with as suitable alternative land was offered to and accepted by the Local Authority. The other two cases were under considera

tion at the end of the year.

Of the remaining eleven applications outstanding six were withdrawn, while five were deferred pending further negotiations by the Local Authorities concerned to obtain ground by agree

ment.

No expenditure was made by the Board during the year from the Agriculture (Scotland) Fund under the special allocation made by Section 18 (3) of the Act. The proposal to appoint three Allotment Organisers, referred to in the Board's Ninth Report, was not proceeded with. In view of the appointment of the Committee mentioned in the paragraph immediately following, it was decided to defer further consideration of the matter until the Committee's report had been issued.

Departmental Committee on Allotments.-It may be of interest to mention in this part of the Report the appointment, on 8th August, by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Secretary for Scotland, of a Departmental Committee charged with the duty of investigating the present position as regards the provision by Local Authorities of allotments in Great Britain, and of formulating recommendations for such amendments of the existing legislation and administration as might be desirable to secure adequate provision of allotments by such Local Authorities, and to improve the tenure and security of occupiers of allotments. The Committee's report had not been issued at the end of the year.

CORN PRODUCTION ACTS.

(1) MINIMUM PRICES OF WHEAT AND OATS.

Under Part I. of the Corn Production Act, 1917, certain payments fell to be made to the occupiers of land on which wheat and oats were produced in each year from 1917 to 1922, if the average market price of the crop should prove to be less than the minimum price laid down in the Act.

These provisions were, with important modifications, made permanent by Part I. of the Agriculture Act, 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, ch. 76), otherwise described as the Corn Production Act, 1920. The new Act provided that three Commissioners, appointed respectively by the three Departments of Agriculture jointly, by the Treasury, and by the Board of Trade, should ascertain the cost of production of wheat and oats in each year, and fix minimum prices bearing the same proportion to the prices for the "standard year," 1919 (viz., 68s. per quarter for wheat and 46s. per quarter for oats), as the cost of production in the year concerned bore to the cost of production in 1919. The payment due to each occupier of land was, as before, to be determined by the amount, if any, by which the average market price for the period 1st September to 31st March should fall below the minimum price. As it appeared to be highly probable that payment would fall to be made in respect of wheat and oats produced in 1921, the Board made the necessary arrangements. A form of claim was drawn up, in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Regulations were issued on 16th May, providing inter alia that claims should be lodged not later than 30th June. Copies of the form of claim were issued by the officers of Customs and Excise with the schedules for the Annual Agricultural Returns, and a notice was issued to the press throughout Scotland calling farmers' attention to the matter. In several of the crofting parishes of Inverness-shire and Rossshire the Agricultural Returns for whole townships are made on single schedules It was therefore necessary to compile from the Valuation Rolls lists of the individual crofters and to issue forms of claim to them directly from the Board's Office. The number so issued was about 8,000. The number of possible claims was estimated at 56,000, and as by the end of June only 30,500 had been received, the Board, acting in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, extended the time to 19th July for ordinary claims and to 31st July in cases where a change of tenancy was involved.

A further legislative change was made by the Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Act, which received Royal Assent on 25th August and came into force on 1st October. The Corn Production Acts were repealed as from that date, but power was reserved to make payments in respect of wheat and oats produced in 1921. These payments were fixed at £3 per acre for wheat and £4 per acre for oats, and the amounts due to producers were payable on 1st January 1922.

On the basis of the acreage of wheat and oats grown in Scotland in 1920, it was estimated that a sun of about £4,400,000 would be necessary to meet the Board's liability in respect of the subsidy, and a Supplementary Estimate for this amount was voted for the purpose.

In order to check the statements of acreage in the claims received, a proportion of the farms and holdings was inspected