As Senators are aware, the present method of distributing the agricultural grant has been in operation since the year 1953. The Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1953 which applied to the financial years 1953-54, 1954-55 and 1955-56 provided for the making by county councils of the following allowances by way of abatement of rates to occupiers of agricultural holdings in rural areas:
"(a) a primary allowance of three-fifths of the general rate in the £ on the land valuation up to £20.
(b) an employment allowance of £17 for each adult workman at work on the holding during the whole of the preceding calendar year, subject to the limitation that the total of the employment allowance shall not exceed the general rate in the £ on the valuation over £20."
The object of this Bill is to continue this method of distribution of the grant for a further period of three years commencing on the 1st April, 1956.
While the agricultural grant has now been in operation for almost 60 years it was not until the year 1946-47 that the system was introduced whereby the amount of the grant paid to county councils varies with fluctuations in the rates struck by the councils. The Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1946, provided that the grant would be the sum needed to give relief on the following basis:—
"(1) A primary allowance at the rate of three-fifths of the general rate in the £ on the land valuation up to £20;
(2) A supplementary allowance of one-fifth of the general rate in the £ on the land valuation over £20;
(3) An employment allowance calculated at the rate of 10/- in the £ on the land valuation over £20, subject to the limitation that the allowance should not exceed £6 10s., for each adult workman at work on the holding during the whole of the preceding calendar year."
This method of distribution continued to operate until the passing of the 1953 Act which abolished the supplementary allowance, increased the employment allowance but left the primary allowance unchanged.
The amount of the agricultural grant increased from £4,938,555 in the year 1953-54 to £5,178,454 in the year 1954-55, and to £5,265,430 in the year 1955-56. The amount of the grant for the coming year is estimated at £5,600,000. The total payable in 1955-56 was divided as follows:—
Primary allowance |
£3,880,378 |
Employment allowance |
£1,369,920 |
Amount paid to certain county borough corporations and urban district councils |
£15,132 |
The employment allowance may be claimed only in respect of a man at work during the whole of the calendar year preceding the relevant financial year. The 1953 Act, which applied to the financial years 1953-54, 1954-55 and 1955-56 did not become law until 23rd December, 1953. Hence the Act could not have affected the number of employees until, at the earliest, the calendar year 1954, and claims in respect of those employees did not arise until 1955-56. The numbers in respect of whom employment allowances were claimed in the period covered by the 1953 Act were:—
1953-54 |
92,504 |
1954-55 |
92,969 |
1955-56 |
90,826 |
It cannot be claimed that the allowances under the 1953 Act have had the effect of increasing continuous whole-time employment in 1954 but it is too soon yet to form any definite conclusions as to the long-term effect of the Act on agricultural employment.
However, before the period to which the present Bill applies has expired it should be possible to decide from the figures then available, whether the present system has justified itself. I think that this system should get a fair trial and, therefore, in this Bill it is proposed to continue for the current financial year and the two following years the method of distribution provided for in the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1953.