To ask the Minister for Finance whether his attention has been called to the delays caused by the Land Improvement Department of the Board of Works by the slow and unsatisfactory methods of paying and granting loans for the erection of hay barns, thus causing farmers considerable loss and inconvenience.

I am not aware of complaints in the matter mentioned, and I understand from the Commissioners of Public Works that they have not received any. One firm, however, which supplies hay barns has suggested a change of procedure, which it is not considered advisable to adopt. Investigation of title, which is indispensable in these cases, necessarily takes time, and there are at present unavoidable delays in carrying out inspections in some parts of the country.