§ MR. LEESE (Lancashire, N.E., (Accrington)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture if any alteration of the system of collecting the agricultural statistics of Great Britain is 585 contemplated; if he is aware that there are strong reasons for doubting the general trustworthiness of the annual Returns, owing to the great difficulties encountered in their collection, and the absence of power to compel unwilling occupiers to render accurate and prompt Returns; and that the present system of collection entails considerable hardship on the Excise officers who act as collectors; and if he is prepared to consider the desirability of requiring the statistics to be compiled by competent parish officials possessing the requisite adequate local knowledge?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. H. GARDNER,) Essex, Saffron WaldenI am satisfied that the general trustworthiness of the Agricultural Returns is not affected either by difficulties in their collection or by omissions to render them. In both these respects improvement has been effected in recent years. The suggestion that the Returns should be compiled by parochial officers instead of by the officers of Inland Revenue has been made on more than one occasion, but it has always been considered that a change in that direction would he detrimental rather than otherwise, and I do not contemplate any alteration in the present system. It is not for me to express any opinion as to the position of the Inland Revenue officers in regard to the particular service in question. I can only say that, on the whole, we consider that the work entrusted to those officers is extremely well done.