MR. JESSE CODLINGS (Birmingham, Bordesley)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he has seen the statements in The Labour Gazette for August, to the effect that during the month of July seven County Councils had resolved to put the Small Holdings Act into operation; that two of those were negotiating to obtain land; and that one (Holland, Lincolnshire) had decided to purchase 136 acres of laud for the purposes of the Act; and whether this statement in The Gazette might be regarded as an official one?
§ MR. MUNDELLAThe information given in The Labour Gazette with regard to the Small Holdings Act is, like all the information published in The 1081 Gazette, obtained from the best sources available to the Labour Department, and every care is taken that it should be accurate. The statements are not derived from Reports officially made to a Government Department, and in that sense are not official.
§ In reply to a further question,
MR. MDNDELLAsaid, the Board of Trade had every reason to believe in the accuracy of the local correspondents.