HC Deb 14 November 1912 vol 43 c2071
36. Mr. LARDNER

asked why the Report and Tables of the agricultural output of Ireland for the year 1908, prepared in connection with the Census of Production Act. 1900, have only now been circulated as a Departmental Paper; and will he state when the compilation was commenced and completed by the statistics and intelligence branch, and when his Department forwarded the separate Irish statistics to the Board of Trade?

Mr. RUSSELL

The compilation of the Report referred to, which is the first of the kind published in this country, was a matter of considerable difficulty. The necessary inquiries could not be set on foot until the spring of the year 1909; and as the work progressed many unexpected questions arose which required a good deal of time for their determination. Moreover, it was indispensable that careful scrutiny of the final estimates and figures should be made before issuing the Report. The information contained in the Report was supplied, in the rough, to the Board of Trade in November, 1911.