1920.] 



Questions r\ PARLIAMENT. 



591 



QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENT. 



Farming- Operations by Agricultural Executive Committees. 



— In reply to a question by Mr. ES. Wood, the Parliamentary Secretary to the 

 Ministry stated that an account of the farming operations undertaken by 

 Agricultural Executive Committees on land of which possession was taken 

 under the Defence of the Realm Regulations on the ground that it had not 

 been properly cultivated had been prepared for the period from 1st April, 

 11*17. to 30th September, 1919, which showed that the total payments and 

 liabilities amounted to £053,890 and the total receipts and assets to £552,1)89, 

 leaving a deficit of £100,901. The total area of which possession was taken 

 amounted to 04,000 acres, but the Committees had withdrawn from possession 

 of a considerable proportion, and the area which was still being farmed by the 

 Committees amounted to approximately 20,000 acres. Much of the work of 

 the Committees consisted of reclaiming practically derelict land, and in such 

 cases a heavy initial outlay had to be incurred which could not be recouped in 

 full in the first two or three years. (10th August, 1920.) 



Double Sheep-dipping- Order.— Captain Bowyer asked the Parlia- 

 mentary Secretary to the Ministry whether he was aware that an order was 

 issued in July for Leicestershire and Northamptonshire that all sheep were to 

 be dipped twice within 14 days ; that as a result of this order being carried 

 out over 100 sheep had died ; who was responsible for this order and from 

 whom damages should properly be claimed ; and whether he would cause the 

 whole question of these sheep-dipping orders to be investigated so that at 

 least sufficient notice should be given to prevent future orders overlapping, 

 and to enable those affected to protest where necessary ? 



In answer, the Parliamentary Secretary stated that the reply to the first 

 part of the question was in the affirmative, except that the order was issued 

 on 26th June. As regards the second part a certain number of losses attri- 

 buted to double dipping had been reported to the Ministry, but full details 

 were not yet available. The double dipping order imposed in Leicestershire 

 and Northamptonshire, according to which sheep have to be dipped twice 

 within a period of 14 days in a dip approved by the Ministry, was one of a 

 number of orders applied to various parts of England, Scotland and Wales in 

 pursuance of the Ministry's policy for the eradication of sheep scab. The 

 reports which had reached the Ministry indicated that the losses in question 

 had been due to the use of a poisonous dip for the second dipping. In this 

 connection it was expected that the advice given by the Ministry on the 

 subject of the use of sheep dips, especially as regards the choice of* a non- 

 poisonous dip for the second dipping, would ha-ve prevented the losses in 

 question. (11th August, 1920.) 



Small Holding's and Allotments (Notices to Quit\— Sir K. Wood 

 asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry whether he was aware that 

 allotment holders in large numbers continue to receive notices to quit ; that in 

 many cases the notice was so short as 7 and 14 days; that the evictions of 

 allotment holders would involve the loss of a considerable amount of food; 

 and whether, in the public interest and in view of the need for increased 

 production of food, he would take steps to remove the anxiety now existing 

 among allotment holders by securing an Amendment of the legal provisions 



