§ MR. LAYLAND-BARRATT (Devonshire, Torquay)To ask the President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries whether he can state the cause of the delay in holding the local inquiry into the by-laws prohibiting trawling in the Devon bays.
(Answered by Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes.) I had hoped that it would have been possible to hold the local inquiry to which my hon. friend refers on May 1st, but it was found impossible to secure the attendance of all the officers con concerned on that date, and we had, therefore, no alternative but to postpone it for a short time, possibly until the Whitsuntide Recess. Inasmuch, however, as the alteration which the proposed new by-laws would make in the existing local regulations could not in any case take effect until August 1st next, the delay in holding the inquiry, which I much regret, is not of any serious importance to those interested in the matter.