§ MR. ROGERS (Wiltshire, Devizes)I beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether the Board is aware that a new and destructive disease of potatoes, known as black scab (chrysophalyctis endobiotica), has lately been introduced into Great Britain, and that outbreaks have now occurred in nine counties; whether the Board is aware that the disease is now being disseminated by seed potatoes from the affected area; and whether the Board, in order to prevent the disease spreading throughout the country and being introduced into Ireland, will deal at once with the matter under the powers conferred on them by the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1907.
§ SIR EDWARD STRACHEYThe disease to which my hon. friend refers was first observed in England in 1901, and it has since spread to many districts, chiefly in the North-west of England and in North Wales. A leaflet on the subject both in English and Welsh has been widely distributed. I shall be glad to send some copies to my hon. friend. The possibility of taking action against the disease under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1907, is under consideration.