asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware of any reasons for the delay in providing war bonuses for officers of committees of agriculture and technical instruction in Ireland on the same scale as that now in operation for Civil servants; if so what are these reasons; and can he now state when he will make a definite statement on this subject?

I am not in a position to add anything to the answer which I gave the hon. and gallant Member on the 27th February.

When may I expect a definite answer?

I cannot say. The matter is being considered.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that on the 30th January, 1918, the Local Government Board wrote to John Foley, tenant of a labourer's cottage at Coolacullig, in the Macroon rural district, stating that during the continuance of the War there is no money available out of public funds for the compulsory purchase of additional allotments of land under the Labourers Acts; whether he can state on whose authority and at what time this decision was come to; whether he is aware that the operations of the Labourers Acts, as disclosed in this letter, have been completely suspended in Ireland; and whether it is the settled policy of the Government, at a time particularly when increased food supplies are essential to the safety of the State, to refuse the benefits of the Labourers Acts to those who are already entitled to them?

The reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Owing to the Treasury restrictions with respect to borrowing and increasing capital expenditure by local authorities it became necessary to suspend the granting of loans under the Labourers Acts early in 1915, except so far as required to meet the cost of completing the building of cottages then actually in the course of construction or contracted for. It is entirely on the ground stated, and not as part of any settled policy of the Government. that operations under the Labourers Acts have been temporarily suspended.

Why should operations in connection with the acquisition of additional allotments be suspended, seeing that they are required for the purpose of increasing the food supplies of the country?

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the Macroom Rural District Council have had before them since the War began the request of John Foley, tenant of a labourer's cottage at Coolacullig, Coachford, county Cork, for an additional allotment of land for tillage purposes, so that he may supply himself and wife and young family of five children with sufficient home grown food; whether he is aware that the district council possesses ample powers to secure an allotment of land for this purpose; whether they have approached, or will approach, Mr. John Dwyer, the tenant of the land on which Foley's cottage is situate, with a view to getting the requisite land from him; and will the Local Government Board make special representations at once to rural district councils all over Ireland that in all bond fide cases of this kind they should use every possible endeavour to provide rural workers with sufficient additional tillage accommodation to meet all their household requirements?

I cannot add anything to the answer which I gave to the hon. and gallant Member's question in reference to this case on the 28th February.

I beg to postpone this question. May I ask when we may expect the Chief Secretary back?

I will inform the hon. Gentleman.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware that there was much delay and disappointment in the delivery of meat to the retail traders last week-end; whether arrangements will be made to ensure greater punctuality, especially regarding frozen meat, which cannot be conveniently cut up until it is partially thawed, and ought to be delivered at least thirty-six hours before distribution; whether he is aware that in consequence of those occurrences many persons had to go several times to the shops and wait for hours, sometimes without obtaining the amount of meat according to their cards; and whether steps will be taken to avoid this in future?

The delay in the delivery of meat to retail traders at the end of lust week was due to the fact that the submitted requirements were incomplete. Steps have been taken to obtain from local food control committees complete and accurate returns of requirements, in order that supplies of frozen meat may be issued early in each week. The fact that the number of persons attending food queues within the Metropolitan Police area, on 2nd March, was only one-fifth of those who had to wait on 23rd February, testifies to the value of the scheme, and I am glad to think that the co-operation of dealers, butchers, and the public generally, enabled the reorganisation of the meat trade, which rationing has involved, to be carried through with a considerable measure of success.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether, before coming to a. decision to make use of the United Dairies Combine as the organised means of distribution of the milk supply, he will consult the Consumers' Council, representatives of the Agricultural Organisation Society, the Federation of County War Agricultural Committees, and the various municipalities?

Before deciding what action shall be taken with reference to the United Dairies Combine, the Food Controller will consult the Consumers' Council as well as other bodies whose advice is likely to be of value.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if, in view of the fact that many milk contracts terminate on Lady Day next and new contracts for the summer supply have to be arranged at a reasonable time before that day, he will now announce the terms of the proposed new Order, the prices for producer and consumer, and the margins for wholesalers and retailers?

The prices referred to by the hon. Member will be announced immediately.

Will the Order be issued immediately?

Yes.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if protests against the proposal to fix dead-weight prices for cattle and sheep, to set up a number of slaughtering places to which producers in the various districts are to be compelled to send their animals, and to appoint a large number of officials in charge of these places, have been received from the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the Federation of County War Agricultural Committees, and other bodies, on the grounds that the scheme is unworkable and extravagant in cost, and tends to decrease the supply of meat?

Protests against the proposal to institute the sale of cattle and sheep by dead-weight have been received from various bodies, and, on the other hand, many resolutions have been received asking that the dead-weight basis should be adopted at the earliest possible date. The question of allowing farmers to sell by dead-weight in districts where conditions are favourable and of the procedure which should be followed to protect the proper interests of the farmer and the butcher, as well as of the State, is being discussed by representatives of the farmers, the meat trade, and the Ministry of Food. So far as sheep are concerned, the scheme has already been put into operation in some districts at the desire of the local interests concerned, and is working satisfactorily. It is anticipated that so far from being more costly than the present system the adoption of the scheme will result in considerable economies.

In view of the prevailing uncertainty, will the hon. Gentleman state when the decision will be reached, and whether, also, practical farmers will be allowed to express their opinions?

Certainly. There will be consultation with practical farmers, and there will be no delay in corning to a final result.

Has the hon. Gentleman any idea when the scheme may be expected to come into operation?

I cannot give my right hon. Friend a definite assurance.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he can state the number of Live Stock Commissioners in Great Britain, the rents of the premises occupied by each Commissioner, the staffs of each office, and the estimated aggregate cost of each office?

I will endeavour to obtain the information which the hon. Member requires, and will convey it to him so soon as I receive it.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether a breeder of sheep who has a country house and a town house is allowed to supply himself and his family and servants in his town house with mutton from his farm without fear of a prosecution by his Department; and whether the same breeder is permitted to send gifts of mutton to friends and to institutions so long as the rations of the receivers are not exceeded?

The answer to both parts of the question is in the affirmative.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether, in regard to the potato-growing notice of 1918, in which the Food Controller states that he will be prepared to enter into contracts with fanners for certain main-crop potatoes of 1918, and for which contract forms must be secured before 1st May, 1918, it will be necessary for the farmer to complete the contract before that date or whether he will be allowed until 1st November, the earliest time for delivery, to effect the sale?

The scheme for the 1918 potato crop contemplates that contracts for potatoes planted on excess acreage should be entered into before the 1st May, 1918, but a reasonable latitude will, if necessary, be given to growers in this respect. The final date for the completion of contracts will be announced later.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether his Department has any definition of the expression "experimental purpose" as used in the potato-growing notice for 1918; and will potatoes grown on land which never grew potatoes before be for experimental purposes or by farmers or others who have not before grown that article of diet?

The phrase "potatoes grown for experimental purposes" means potatoes of new or rare varieties which are not grown on a commercial scale. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative.

asked the Minister of Munitions if he will publish a list of the centres to which farmers may send their seed for electrical treatment?

The process to which the hon. Member alludes is still in an experimental stage, and the Board are not prepared to advise farmers to adopt the process and to establish centres for the treatment of seed on a commercial scale.

Is this process being dealt with in a practical way for the benefit of farmers?

The matter is receiving very careful attention.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether it is the desire of his Department that all newly broken-up grass land should be seeded with corn, and, if not, whether the instructions of the Food Production Committee have been so interpreted by any of the county war agricultural committees; if so, whether he will issue instructions to these committees to give full liberty to farmers to utilise the increased arable area within certain limits as they think best to suit the particular form of food production in which they are engaged, and particularly that leguminous crops, lucerne, etc., may be sown upon a suitable urea in order to increase the supply of food for cows and to economise in the consumption of concentrated feeding-stuffs where dairying is the principal industry of the farm; and whether he will take steps to give the widest possible publicity to any decision arrived at by his Department in this direction?

The Board have never suggested that all the newly broken grass should be devoted to corn crops. The original programme of the Department stated that the area of grass to be broken was intended to provide not only for an increased area of corn, which includes beans and peas, but also for an increase in the potato crop and in the fodders required for the production of winter milk. Some agricultural executive committees did not realise this and specified that corn only should be grown on the grass land ordered for ploughing, but their attention has been called to the matter, and they have been asked to make it known that they are prepared to authorise other crops. Instructions have also been sent to all committees that any farmers desiring to grow potatoes should be encouraged to do so, and also that dairy farmers who are prepared to develop the production of winter milk should be allowed a free choice as to the crops to be grown on any grass land broken up on their farms, so that, if they so desire, they may be able to grow roots or forage crops for the feeding of their cows during the winter.

May I call the hon. Gentleman's attention to the last part of my question, which he has not answered, and which asks what steps the Department are going to take, in view of the importance of the question to farmers at this season of the year, to make widely known to farmers generally their decision, apart from any instructions issued to the agricultural war committees?

There will be the reply to this question, which will, no doubt, get a considerable amount of publicity, and if that is not sufficient we will consider other means.

Has the hon. Gentleman considered the advisability of growing certain crops, such as hay?