§ MR. MCKENNA (for Mr. C. E. SHAW)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether the Brothers Gorton, of Newton-le-Willows, after having refused a large monetary offer from the American Government for the results of their discoveries in respect to the successful crossing of cereals and grasses, have offered the whole of their experiments gratuitously to three successive Ministers of Agriculture for the benefit of the British farmer; and whether the reply of each Minister in question has been that there is no provision at the Board of Agriculture for the supervision of such experiments.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. LONG,) Liverpool, West DerbyCorrespondence has taken place between Messrs. R. and J. Garton, of Newton-le-Willows, and successive Presidents of the Board of Agriculture, with regard to the work they have done in connection with the production of improved varieties of wheat, barley, oats, and rye, but the purport neither of the letters received nor of the answers sent appears to me to be correctly indicated in the question. I shall be happy to supply a copy of the correspondence to the hon. Member if he so desires.