asked the Secretary for Scotland whether his statistics of ploughed-up grass land in Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire show that the large landowners of such, say of over 100 acres of grass, have done their fair proportion, or whether the most of the ploughing up has been done by the small farmers; and, if the latter, will he say why this distinction is made, in view of the fact that there is such need to grow food for the incoming winter?

I have no information tending to support the suggestion contained in the question. On the contrary, the fact that only three compulsory Orders have been found necessary in the counties in question during this season points to a general willingness to comply with the efforts being made to increase cultivation. The second part of the question does not in these circumstances arise.

Can my right hon. Friend say under what conditions compulsory Orders are issued?

They are issued by the Board of Agriculture, having regard to all the circumstances.

Is it not at the instance of these county agricultural committees?

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture if his Department will at once reconsider the Government's policy in regard to poultry-keeping; is he aware that the national food supplies are being seriously jeopardised by the Government's policy; that poultry at all times thrive upon unavoidable waste products; and that, whilst running in fields, waste plot lands, and refuse dumps, they successfully procure their food by scavenging; that hundreds of thousands of practical poultry-keepers in our, country, who should know best, are dismayed by the lack of knowledge or sympathy with this form of food culture by his Department; and that hundreds of thousands are now signing petitions appealing for greater consideration by his Department and for the future good of the food supplies of the country?

I would refer the hon. Member to the answers given to the hon. Member for the Montrose Burghs on the 18th February, and to the hon. Member for Hertford on the 6th March. There will be about 50,000 tons of foodstuffs available for distribution through the poultry keepers' societies to selected owners of utility fowls for the purpose of ensuring the preservation of the most useful stocks of poultry in the country. In addition, poultry keepers will be able to obtain priority certificates which will entitle them to an allowance of 1 oz. of chicken food per day for each hen hatched after the 1st January, 1916. As to this an Order will, I understand, shortly be issued by the Ministry of Food. In view of the present difficulty of obtaining, animal feeding stuffs, I hope that owners of poultry will make the best use possible of all supplementary sources of feeding stuffs, and keep and rear as many birds as they can with the limited means at their disposal.

Will they have to produce the birth certificate of the fowls in order to obtain the food?

Can the right hon. Gentleman state the class of feeding-stuffs it is proposed to supply?

It is damaged grain, screenings, and similar products.

Did not the right hon. Gentleman state, on the occasion of a question recently, that he would issue a special paper, which would be obtainable by all poultry-keepers, giving them special information and instructions in connection with this matter; has he issued that paper, and, if not, when is it likely to be out?

It ought to be out at the end of this week.

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture if he is aware that the National Farmers' Union views with alarm the proposal to establish a dead-weight system of sale for live stock, as they believe it will cause unnecessary expenditure of public money and dissatisfaction among farmers, owing to the difficulty of identification of their stock in the places of slaughter, and that they feel that this action would result in a want of confidence on the part of farmers which would seriously affect the production of food; and will he therefore take such steps as he may think right to prevent the system coining into force?

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether any decision has been definitely come to by his Department as to the method of purchase of fat stock; and whether it is proposed to let farmers have the option of selling by the live weight system where the Government does not propose to slaughter them in the immediate neighbourhood?

I have been asked to reply. My Department has been in consultation on this, matter with a committee of farmers' representatives appointed by the National Farmers' Union, the Central Chamber of Agriculture and the Royal Agricultural Society. It has been agreed that farmers shall be allowed to send their cattle to the nearest local market within their specified area, there to be sold at their option either by live-weight or, when facilities permit, by dead-weight.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he is aware that, in many parts of Ireland, wholesale merchants are refusing to-supply their 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917 customers with goods owing to higher prices being offered to them from other quarters thus giving additional supplies to districts which pay the best prices; if he will take steps to obtain powers, by Act of Parliament or otherwise, to prevent wholesalers depriving their pre-war customers of supplies; and if his attention has been drawn to this form of profiteering in one district in the North of Ireland?

The answer to the first and third parts of the question is in the negative. If the hon. Member will give me particulars of any specific instances in which wholesale merchants have refused to supply their pre-war customers, I will consider what steps are proper to be taken.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that particulars of the cases I have referred to have been in his Department for the last six weeks?

No, Sir. I asked only this morning whether the information had been received, and the answer was No.

Does not the hon. Gentleman recollect that I brought a case before the House in connection with whisky supplies, in which distillers in Newry were soiling supplies to the highest bidders in this country, and depriving their local customers of their legitimate supplies?

I am afraid that the vast variety of these topics play havoc with my memory. I cannot recall the particular instance, but if the hon. Gentleman will place in my hands the particulars asked for in this reply, I shall be glad to deal with them.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he is aware that on 27th February three men, who stated that they were acting on instructions from the local food committee, searched the house, 26, Brownlow Road, Bounds Green, W.; that the only person in the House at the time, other than the search party, was a young girl; that they opened and searched the private desks and drawers and ransacked the wardrobes and boxes in the bedrooms; and that they compelled the young girl to carry a step-ladder from the garden into the attic to enable them to get on the roof of the house; on whose information this search was made; whether any hoarding of food was found; and whether the Food Controller sanctions or approves of actions of this kind?

This search was authorised by the Divisional Food Commissioner, and a young lady who was in the house at the time gave the inspecting officers every assistance in her power. It is not the practice to disclose the name of informants. It is not intended to take further action as the result of the search, and I should be sorry to think that the search had caused annoyance to the members of the household.

Can the hon. Gentleman say whether the information given to the Food Commissioner or the executive officer of the local committee was anonymous or not?

I cannot believe that the Divisional Food Commissioner would act upon anonymous information. If I may add an opinion, I am afraid that inspection in this case was certainly an unfortunate event.

Will the hon. Gentleman ascertain whether the information was anonymous or not?

Yes.

Can he say whether the only evidence of hoarding in this house was 1 1b. of petrol which had been in the house for eighteen years?

Can the hon. Gentleman give the House any idea of the sort of information upon which the Department of the Food Controller proceeds?

That is too wide a question.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether special permission was given to certain and, if so, which wholesale and their allied retail firms in Smithfield Market and elsewhere, and to these firms only, to sell meat on Friday, 8th March, 1918, without the production by purchasers of meat coupons; and if this special permission was given in consequence of action by the American importers in putting upon the market a large amount of meat after their demand for an increased price of Id. per 1b. had been refused?

No retail business is at present conducted in Smithfield Market, and, consequently, coupons are not required there. With regard to the question of the retail sale of meat without coupons by firms outside the market, the Food Controller has no reason to suppose that any such permission as that referred to was granted, though such action is within the powers given to local food control committees in order that waste of meat through its becoming unsaleable may be prevented. The suggestion contained in the second part of the question with regard to the action of the American meat importers is entirely without foundation.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what was the total weight of meat and refrigerated produce stored on private account in Miller Street Cold Air Stores, Manchester, on Saturday, 2nd February, and Saturday, 2nd March, respectively, and who were the four principal holders in the latter case and the extent and character of their holdings?

The total weight of meat and refrigerated produce stored on private account in the Union Cold Stores, Miller Street, Manchester, on Saturday, 2nd February, was 110 tons, while on Saturday, 2nd March, it was 89 tons. In the latter case the four principal holders and the extent and character of their holdings were as follows:

asked the Prime Minsiter, in view of the fact that the United Dairies Combine controls 80 per cent. of the wholesale milk supply to London and 70 per cent. of the retail supply, and that no advantage of an improved grade of milk or cheapness has been made a condition of approval to this monopoly by any Government Department concerned, if he will appoint a. committee, representative of consumers, producers, the Agricultural Organisation Society, the Ministry of Food, and the Board of Agriculture, to inquire into the whole matter and report whether it is in the public interest that such a monopoly should be permitted; and, if so, under what conditions of standard and prices of the essential food controlled?

I have been asked to reply. The Joint Committee of the Ministry of Food and the Board of Agriculture on the production and distribution of milk have already given considerable attention to this matter, and, at Lord Rhondda's request, they are now appointing a sub-committee, on which outside representatives of consumers and producers will be added, for the purpose of settling the immediate steps necessary for the control of the collection, utilisation, and distribution of milk sold wholesale.

May I ask the Leader of the House whether he will now take steps to prevent any further firms being included in the combine until the Committee have reported?

This is obviously a question dealing directly with the food supply, and more suitable for the Food Controller. I have not looked into it myself, but I will do so.

May I ask the same question of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food?

I think my hon. Friend may be assured that immediate action will be taken, as this answer indicates, and that the matter may be safely left in the hands of the committee now being appointed.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food if he will state in thousands of gallons what is the present production of milk in England, Scotland, and Wales; what was the total production for the six months ending 31st December, 1917; what was the total production for the six months ending 30th June, 1917; the amount and percentage of such total production which is now being, and was during the above periods, converted into condensed milk, milk powder, chocolate, or otherwise preserved apart from conversion into cheese and butter; the amount and percentage of the total production which is now, and was during the above periods, controlled, converted as above by the United Dairies. Limited, and Nestlé's and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, respectively; and the amount and the percentage of the total production which is now, and was during the above periods, converted into cheese and butter, and the percentage of this so converted by the United Dairies, Limited?

I regret that, owing to the absence of precise statistics, it is impossible to give all the information asked for in this question, but, from such records as are available, I have caused a statement to be prepared, and am sending this to the hon. Member.

Will this information be before the Committee?

Certainly.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food (1) if during the month of April, 1918, the price of milk to the producer will be reduced from 1s. 9d. to 1s. 8d., whiile the price to the wholesaler remains the same, so that the consumer will obtain no benefit by way of a reduced price; (2) why the margin has been increased from 3d. to 4½d. for large wholesalers prepared to collect from the station and deliver to the retailers' premises, while ½d. only is allowed to wholesalers who, supplying churns, standing the risk of bad debts, doing all the booking, regulating the quantities, and supplying stationery to the farmers, put the milk direct from the producers to the retailers; and if he is aware that the above increase is not unduly favourable to the United Dairies combine of wholesalers and retailers and detrimental to their smaller competitors in the wholesale trade?

The Food Controller has fixed the price of milk to the producer during April at 1s. 8d. per gallon, which is the average of the prices previously fixed for the six winter months. After a careful examination of the best figures available as to costings, it has been thought advisable to increase the maximum margin allowed to wholesale dealers for milk delivered by them to the retailer's premises, the dealer paying the railway charges, from 3¾d. to 4½d. per gallon. A margin of ½d. per gallon is allowed to wholesalers upon whose instructions producers send their milk direct to retailers, since this figure is considered to be adequate for the services rendered. I cannot agree that these rates are unduly favourable to any particular company; they are maximum rates, subject to variation by local food control committees, upon whose action will depend the actual price paid by the consumer for milk in April.

Is it not the fact that these margins for wholesalers and retailers were fixed on the idea that the services would be rendered by different firms, and now that so many firms are in the combine the margins are unduly favourable to them?

My reply indicates that it is not considered that these margins arc unduly favourable to any one company.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what arrangements are made respecting the rations of sugar to His Majesty's judges on circuit; and whether they are placed on the same footing as commercial travellers, and immediately on arrival at an Assize town are obliged to go to the local post office to enter their names and requisitions as in the case of commercial travellers?

It is not proposed, in rationing sugar or any other food commodity, to make any distinction whatever.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will correct misunderstandings arising out of recent Ministerial statements on the subject by giving the total reduction in the weight of all imports for 1917 as compared with 1916?

The statements to which my hon. Friend refers had relation, as was clearly stated, to imports in British ships only, and did not include neutral tonnage.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the recent seizures at Smith- field Market of tuberculous meat and the danger that the existing high price of meat may tempt many persons where they consider themselves safe from efficient inspection to unload such goods in the form of sausage meat, piece meat, pie meat, etc., he will address a circular letter to all local sanitary authorities directing that all slaughterings are to be notified and that animals and dead meat shall be, if possible, inspected by the local authorities at the time of slaughter and before being offered for sale?

My right hon. Friend is advised that, under existing conditions, notification of the time of slaughtering would not achieve the result aimed at, but the possibility of securing more prompt inspection by greater concentration of the places where slaughtering takes place is under consideration.

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether the officers of his Department instituted an examination of the tuberculous and diseased meat which, during the last six weeks, has been continuously deposited in Smithfield Market; and whether, in view of the national danger that such goods may be diverted to markets where the meat inspection is of a less trained and efficient character than that of the City of London Corporation, ho will cause to be circulated to Members of Parliament and local sanitary authorities the Report, if any, prepared by his officers on the subject?

One of the Board's inspectors has seen, at Smithfield Market, specimens of the diseased meat referred to, but no inspection of the character suggested in the question has been made by the officers of the Board. That duty devolves upon the officials of the Corporation of London. No Report has been prepared by the Department on the subject.

asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether he is aware of the number of goats being exported from Ireland, and whether he will have inquiries instituted and arrangements adopted to ensure that a sufficient number of goats will be retained to continue the normal number for breeding purposes?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The question of maintaining the stock of goats in Ireland is receiving the attention of the Department of Agriculture.