1.—15

(4) Land Drainage Boards (a) Revenue Land drainage districts do not in general receive any subsidy from the Government, although in special circumstances small ad hoc subsidies are given to particular Boards owing to some special circumstances. Most of the revenue is derived from rates, although some Boards do receive small amounts of revenue from other sources such as rents or supply of labour or material. The total rates in 1941-42 were approximately £72,000, which, with forty-seven Boards, amounts to an average income of approximately £1,500, but, as noted earlier,( l ) 72 per cent, of the Boards have a revenue of under £1,000. Over the past twenty years there has been very little loan-money expended on drainage-work, although from the Employment and related Funds quite substantial amounts of money have been paid to Drainage Boards over the past six or seven years. The following table gives a general picture of the receipts of Drainage Boards over the period : —

Table showing Receipts of Land Drainage Boards from 1924-25 to 1943-44

91

_ „ Receipts (not Revenue from— Revenue). 0) GO j —r § " • f Financial Year. .|U tff § 1 | . Ill | J iff lil 11 1 I lie ° i ■H a|i '"i g - III I £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ 1924-25 .. 43,557 1,331 208 45,096 20,951( 2 ) 66,047 1925--26 .. 53,644 1,689 .. 55,333 16,764( 2 ) 72,097 1926-27 .. 50,210 1,730 .. 51,940 42,382( 2 ) 94,322 1927-28 .. 62,327 2,092 1,337 65,756 £ 29,441( 2 ) 95,197 1928-29 .. 62,452 3,258 400 66,110 i -§ 38,249( 2 ) 104,359 1929-30 .. 66,486 2,854 .. 69,340 -§ -g 32,454( 2 ) 101,794 1930-31 .. 53,456 2,436 .. 55,892 % 23,681( 2 ) 79,573 1931-32 .. 60,046 1,953 .. 61,999 s ■*> 48,468( 2 ) 110,467 1932-33 .. 53,525 1,934 554 56,013 -g 48,189( 2 ) 104,202 1933-34 .. 63,358 1,718 801 65,877 Jzq 34,836( 2 ) 100,713 1934-35 .. 56,012 1,572 159 57,743 27,566( 2 ) 85,309 1935-36 .. 58,809 1,486 .. 60,295 18,983( 2 ) 79,278 1936-37 .. 59,843 1,471 .. 61,314 14,350( 4 ) 2,369( 3 ) 78,033 1937-38 .. 61,700 1,661 .. 63,361 17,557( B ) 1,624 82,542 1938-39 .. 66,741 3,072 .. 69,813 5,730 26,732( 6 ) 1,046 103,321 1939-40 .. 67,182 2,101 .. 69,283 2,500 32,558( 7 ) 1,592 105,933 1940-41 .. 73,282 2,833 76,115 .. 18,103( 8 ) 1,060 95,278 1941-42 .. 71,991 2,059 .. 74,050 6,000 13,290( 9 ) 462 93,802 1942-43 .. 73,542 2,453 .. 75,995 379 4,193 495 81,062 1943-44 .. 74,013 3,407 .. 77,420 .. 2,137 456 80,013 (') See page 15. ( 2 ) Includes all receipts (not revenue). ( 3 ) Includes receipts from loans. ( 4 ) Includes £12,231 from Unemployment Promotion Fund. ( 6 ) Includes £14,979 from Unemployment Promotion Fund. ( (i ) Includes £23,336 from Unemployment Promotion Fund. ( 7 ) Includes £26,421 from Labour 'Department and Unemployment Promotion Fund. ( 8 ) Includes £15,384 from Labour Department. ( 9 ) Includes £8,479 from Labour Department.