§ MR. C. E. PRICE (Edinburgh, Central)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture whether there are special reasons for the delay in publishing the Report for the year 1906 until the present year of the proceedings under the Sale of Food and other Acts; and whether steps will be taken to publish in future the Annual Report of this Department within a few months of the year to which it refers.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The delay in the publication of the Report to which my hon. friend refers was due partly to the absence on sick leave of the officer responsible for a considerable portion of it and partly to the services of other members of the staff concerned being required for more urgent work. We fully recognise the importance of issuing our various Reports with as little delay as possible, and I hope that the Report in question for the year 1907 will be issued at a much earlier date than was that for 1906.