§ SIR ANDREW AGNEWsaid, he would beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether Her Majesty's Government intend to make any arrangement for the collection of Agricultural Statistics in Scotland during the present year?
§ MR. HENLEYsaid, that the system by which those statistics had heretofore been collected was half a voluntary one. It was paid for out of the public funds, but the expense was very moderate. That arrangement had, however, been, as the House was aware, put an end to; and as it was one to which all parties in Scotland had given their assent, any new scheme would probably be looked upon with some jealousy, if not with positive disfavour. Public expenditure ought undoubtedly to be submitted to an audit by the proper authorities, whether the money had passed through the hands of princes or of peasants. He had the subject under consideration, and if he could see his way to a satisfactory settlement he should be happy to adopt it.