1920.] 



Questions in Parliament. 



187 



some ill draft, in the case of 46 County Councils up to the present. 

 Fourteen had been finally approved, and in one case the Committee 

 was complete and were to hold its first meeting this week. In 13 

 cases the appointment of the committee was still proceeding. In the 

 case of the remaining 32 schemes, 21 have been provisionally approved 

 and II were now under consideration. In the case of i6 Councils, no 

 scheme had yet been submitted. (19th April, 1920.) 



Grading: of Hay. — In reply to a question by Sir H. Nield, as to the 

 grading of hay by the Government, the Secretary of State for War 

 stated that the grading of hay by the Government ceased with the pur- 

 chase of the 1918 crop. The grading was carried out by officers of the 

 Forage Department and by duly appointed buyers from the hay trade 

 whose names were recommended by the Civil Supplies Central Council. 

 He was informed that, as far as was known, there had been no 

 complaints as to the grading, (i 6th April, 1920.) 



Foragre Cojnty Distributing* CommitteeSk — In reply to a question by 

 Captain Terrell, the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to theWaf 

 Office stated that the distribution of the 1 91 8 crop of hay and straw 

 was dealt with by the County Distributing (Forage) Committees, and 

 they were at present carrying out duties only in so far as the winding 

 up of the organisation is concerned. (15th April, 1920.) 



Agrricultural Rates Act. — In reply to a question by Mr. Cautley, the 

 Minister of Health (Dr. Addison) stated that the present amount of the 

 annual grant to be paid into the Local Taxation Account under the 

 provisions of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, is ^1,323,827 : in 1897, 

 the amount was certified at ;^i, 33 1,034. The total amount of rates, to 

 which the Act applies, collected in respect of the year ended March, 

 1897, for the spending authorities referred to in the Act was 

 ;^2o, 800,000. The corresponding figure for 191 7 (the latest year for 

 which the returns are complete) was approximately ;^47,8oo,ooo. Only 

 a small proportion of the total relates to agricultural land. (29th 

 March, 1920.) 



Agricultural Machinery. — In reply to a question by Major J. Edwards, 

 the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry stated that the recom- 

 mendations of the Committee on Agricultural Machinery were now 

 under consideration by the Ministry. The Ministry hoped to be able 

 to obtain financial sanction for early action on certain of the proposals. 

 No legislation would be required to give effect to the recommendations. 

 (21st April, 1920.) 



Foot-and-Mouth Disease. — In reply to a question by Captain Terrell, 

 the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry stated that according 

 to the latest information in the possession of the Ministry there was 

 reason to believe that Foot-and-Mouth Disease existed or had recently 

 existed in every country of Europe, with the probable exceptions 

 of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Many of the returns were, however, 

 not of recent date, and no records of any kind were available in the 

 case of Russia and 9 other European countries. In spite of every 

 inquiry the origin of disease in the recent outbreaks remained obscure. 



A Committee of Scientists has recently been appointed to investigate 

 this disease, and it is hoped that its researches will commence shortl}'. 

 (21st April, 1920.) 



