§ MR. BROOKFIELD (Sussex, Rye)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture if he can explain on what grounds, although the Assistant Commissioners to the Royal Commission on Labour have been directed to inquire into the wages and earnings of agricultural 1778 labourers in the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire; Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire; Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and Wiltshire, and also in Wales, the hop-growing counties of Kent, Sussex, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Worcester, Surrey, and Shropshire have been specially excluded from this list; and whether, in view of the importance of the hop-growing industry to the wage-earning agricultural community, he will use his influence to have two or three hop-growing counties included in the Reference?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI believe it is a mistake to infer from the arrangements that have been made that the hop-growing districts are excluded from the scope of the inquiries, or that any injustice is likely to be done to them.