§ MR. LAURENCE HARDY (Kent, Ashford)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he is aware that the French have recently taken large quantities of lugworm, dug from the East Bay, Dungeness, and that arrangements are being made for the exportation of 5,000 lug-worm a a day; whether he is aware that the fishing in Dungeness Bay depends largely on the plentiful supply of lug-worm, which attract the fish and provide ample supplies of bait for the local fishermen; and whether in view of the fact that so large an export will soon exhaust the supply, he will take some measures to check a proceeding so detrimental to the fishing industry.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) We have not received any complaints from local fishermen as to the practices mentioned by the hon. Member, but inquiry will be made into the matter in order to ascertain whether any action can be taken in the interest of the fishing industry.