§ MR. BELLOC (Salford, S.)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether in view of the fact that outbreaks of a destructive epidemic fungus disease of gooseberries, viz., the American gooseberry-mildew have now occurred in Worcestershire, and that the Board of Agriculture have at present no power to deal with the prohibition or control of the importation of diseased gooseberry bushes, on which the disease has been introduced into this country, the Government will introduce this session a short amending Act to The Destructive Insects Act, 1877, in order to give the Board the necessary legislative powers to deal with the disease.
§ (Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) Full inquiry is being made as to the necessity and practicability of legislation in the direction suggested by my hon. friend, but, until we are in possession of further information as to the characteristics and past history of the disease, and the nature and extent of the trade with which it is proposed to deal, it is not possible for us to enter into any definite undertaking on the subject. We fully appreciate, however, the importance of taking any action which may be decided upon as speedily as possible.