§ MR. LAWRENCEI beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture why the Agricultural Returns up to 4th June last have only just now been printed, while in former years they were published in September or October; and what is likely to be the date of their publication in future?
§ MR. H. GARDNERUnder the arrangement sanctioned last year, the Agricultural Returns are now issued in throe stages: A preliminary summary is published in August, and in October a complete abstract is issued showing the acreage under each kind of crop, and the number of animals under each head in 246 each county of Great Britain, and in each division of the United Kingdom. This statement contains the information which agriculturists and others chiefly require for practical purposes, and under the new arrangement we are able to supply the particulars referred to at a much earlier date than was previously the case. The annual volume recently issued contains the full details from which the summary and statement previously published were made up, together with many comparative statistics of a supplementary character. I think the hon. Member will find that under the plan now adopted we are able to furnish in a convenient form more complete information as to the statistical position both at home and abroad, and yet at the same time to place agriculturists in possession of the information of the greatest importance to them at the earliest possible date.