§ Sir JOHN JARDINEasked whether, in 1907 and 1908, the county councils of Roxburghshire and Berwickshire moved the Secretary for Scotland to authorise bylaws to allow locomotives drawing threshing mills to have studs or spikes in the tyres of their wheels when travelling from place to place on the highways in frosty weather; and, if so, whether the Secretary for Scotland has given any, and what, reply; whether similar recommendations have been made by the directors of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland and of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture; and whether the Secretary for Scotland is aware that under the present law farmers in Roxburghshire are put to inconvenience in not getting the ricks threshed, because if a frost comes on the locomotive cannot bring the threshing mill to the steading?'
§ Mr. UREProposals of the kind referred to by my hon. Friend were submitted by the county councils mentioned, but, as indicated in the reply given on 31st March last to the hon. Member for Banff, the competent way of dealing with the matter is by an Order of the Secretary for Scotland under Sections 9 and 10 of the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896, and not by a by-law made by a local authority. I am aware that the matter has been before the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, and the views of that Chamber and of the two county councils referred to will be borne in mind as repre- 486 sentations in favour of the making of an Order under the Act of 1896. But there is at present no sufficient evidence of agreement among the various parties interested to justify the Secretary for Scotland in proceeding to make an Order.