§ MR. HERBERT LEWISI beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, during the two years in which the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, has been in operation in nine counties, only one analysis has been made, and in 29 counties there 484 have been no analyses; and what steps he proposes to take to prevent the Act from being a dead letter in the counties referred to?
* MR. LONGThe facts are as stated in the Question. Since the passing of the Act we have addressed various circular letters to local authorities calling attention to its provisions, and making various suggestions with regard to its administration. We have also issued many thousand copies of a leaflet explanatory of the procedure to be adopted by buyers who wish to put the Act into force. I shall be happy to consider any further suggestions which may be made to me by which the Act can be made known, but it must rest with the buyers themselves to determine whether they will avail themselves of the machinery for sampling and analysis supplied by the Act.