§ Mr. KNOTTasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether the attention of his Department has been called to the advance recently made in the United States and in Canada as regards lobster culture; whether any actual trial has been made under his Department of the methods used on the other 639 side of the Atlantic with conspicuous success; whether the Government will make inquiry by Royal Commission or otherwise into the depletion of this industry on the British and Irish coasts; and whether such Commission, if appointed, will take evidence in the United States and Canada?
§ Mr. E. J. SOARES (Lord of the Treasury)The Board are aware of the fact that the lobster industry in England and Wales is not in a satisfactory condition, and investigations in the matter are being made with the co-operation of local fisheries committees. A full Report on the subject will be issued. The experiments now being carried out in America are being carefully watched, but no further action can be taken until full information of the results obtained is available.