§ MR. MORRELL (Oxfordshire, Henley)I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to the fact that, although the Small Holdings Act has been in operation for more than eleven months, and although there is in most counties an unsatisfied demand, no reports have yet been forwarded to the county councils by the Board of Agriculture as provided by the Act; whether he is aware that under Section 2 (3) of the Act it is the duty of the Commissioners, after they have ascertained the extent of the demand, as they are required to do, to report this information to the Board, stating whether it is desirable that a scheme should be made, and that under Section 3 (1) of the Act it is the duty of the Board to forward this report to the county council concerned, and that the only reason which can be given, either by the Commissioners or the Board, for not carrying out these statutory duties is that they are not of opinion that it is desirable that a scheme should be made, which presumably is not always the case; whether he is aware that the forwarding of such reports is a necessary preliminary to any action by the Board and the only effective means by which the Board can supervise the working of the Act, and that the failure of the Board to exorcise their powers in this respect has caused hardship to many applicants, both by the indefinite postponement of the preparation of schemes and by the loss of any effective right of appeal from the county council to the Board; and whether he will cause further inquiry to be made with a view to enforcing, according to their plain 778 meaning and intention, the provisions of this Act.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fifeshire, E.I understand that the Board of Agriculture regard the procedure in question as coming within the default provisions of the Act, and therefore no action has yet been taken in the direction desired by my hon. friend. I propose to discuss the matter with my noble friend the President.