§ SIR EDWARD STRACHEY (Somersetshire, S.)To ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will, immediately after the 15th May, take such steps as may be necessary to test the value of the standard for butter set up by the Board of Agriculture, so that the uncertainty now existing whether after that date milk-blended butter containing a higher percentage of moisture than permitted by the standard can still be sold may be determined.
(Answer.) It has not been the practice of the Board to anticipate the action of local authorities for the purpose of testing the effect of statutes, and in view of the full powers of local authorities I do not think that any special necessity for doing so arises in this case. The authority given by statute to the Board has been fully exercised in issuing the regulations.—(Board of Agriculture.)