§ MR. KNOX (Cavan, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the power of the Irish Laud Commission to cause to be made such inspections and Reports as may be necessary as to agricultural prices under 50 & 51 Vict., c, 33, s. 29, is limited to such inspections and Reports as were necessary for the purposes of that section; whether there is any Treasury Minute authorising the continuance of the expense after the purposes of the section had been fulfilled; whether any notice was given to Parliament at the time of the proposed continuance; whether other agricultural statistics in Ireland are collected by the Registrar General's Department, and whether the Treasury have considered the inconvenience of having two authorities collecting such statistics; whether he is aware that the statistics collected by the Land Commission, owing to their inaccuracy, serve no useful purpose; and whether, having regard to the wishes of the agricultural community, the Treasury will order the discontinuance of this expense?
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTThe answer to the first question is, Yes. The continuance of the expense was sanctioned by Treasury Letters for the years 1890 and 1891, after which date the preparation of these statistics became part of the duties of the Agricultural Department of the Land Commission created under the Purchase of Land Act, 1891. Provision 1706 for the service was made in the Estimates of the year, and the attention of Parliament was thus drawn to the continued collection of agricultural statistics. The Registrar General collects statistics as to areas under cultivation and quantities. He has no machinery for collecting the statistics as to prices referred to in the question. The present arrangement is one of economy and convenience. I have no reason to think that the statistics as now prepared by the Land Commission are not generally accurate; and I cannot undertake, on the information before me, to make any alteration.