§ MR. WILSON-TODD (York, N.R.,) HowdenshireI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department is he aware that the close time for wild birds on the Yorkshire side of the Dumber commences on the 1st of March in each year, whereas on the Lincolnshire side it does not commence till the 15th of March; and if he will take steps to remove what the residents on the Yorkshire side of the Dumber feel to be an injustice and a great grievance to them by so adjusting the close time that it shall commence on the same day in every year on both sides of the Dumber?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.I am aware of the difference that exists in the close time for wild birds on the two sides of the River Dumber, and the matter has been frequently considered at the Dome Office. I have no power under the Wild Birds Protection Act, 1880, to vary the (dose time for any portion of a county, but any extension authorised by me must operate throughout the whole county. The ques- 150 tion of altering such time generally in Yorkshire to March 15 has been carefully considered on several occasions by my predecessor and by myself, and I have declined to make any alteration in this respect. Whether the time should be altered in Lincolnshire is another matter, and one in which I have no authority to interfere until applied to by the County Authorities.