asked the Minister for Agriculture the reason for the long delay in the distribution of land held by the Land Commission.

The disposal of land is delayed because of the need to assign a considerable number of staff to the farm classification office. The disposal programme continues, however, with a view to its completion at the earliest possible date.

Can the Minister tell us if any other staff within the Land Commission section have been transferred to any other Government Department or agency, apart from those assigned to deal with the farm tax? Will he accept that in district offices of the Land Commission throughout the country there are now only one or two people dealing with land subdivision and allocation? Can he give any indication about when the land which has been on hand for a number of years will be completely allocated?

I am not aware that other staff have been seconded to areas other than to the farm tax office. Offically there has been some talk about staff for another Department but as far as I am aware nothing has happened. In so far as the programme for the allocation of land on hand is concerned, as of 31 March last we had 7,700 hectares on hand, of which 3,700 hectares were already approved for allotment by the Commissioners. That means in effect that we would have something like 10,000 acres yet to be allocated.

What is the position about the staff?