asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the annual average transfer of land from agricultural use in Scotland for the 25-year period 1949 to 1974; and what proportion of the acreage lost has been given over to forestry.

I have been asked to reply.Over the 14 years from June 1960 to May 1974 there was an annual average net transfer of 56,647 acres of agricultural land to other uses, 89 per cent—50,373 acres—of this being to forestry. Information on a comparable basis is not available for earlier years.