§ MR. M. BIDDULPH (Herefordshire, Ross)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether it would be possible to obtain a Return of the acreage of land thrown out of cultivation in England, and also of the lands held in hand by the owners (other than home farms), together with the rates and taxes payable on the same?
§ *MR. HERBERT GARDNERThere are no existing statistics from which the proposed Return could be compiled, and any special statistical inquiries would be attended with considerable difficulty and expense. The subject is one, however, which has naturally received consideration at the hands of the Royal Commission, whose publications when complete will, I understand, throw much light, upon it, and who are now engaged in making an examination of the facts in particular districts.