§ 10. Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether, seeing that the new board of governors of the Agricultural Organisation Society about to be constituted twelve members have, under its constitution, to be nominated by the board and two each by the County Councils Association and the Co-operative Union, respectively, and the remaining eighteen to be elected by the affiliated societies, and that the latter are not proceeding with such election, although due to take place, pending the board's announcement of the names of its nominees, in order to avoid overlapping and duplication of appointment, he will now state the names of the board's nominees and so accelerate the reconstitution of the board?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Runciman)As soon as the estimates of the Agricultural Organisation Society for the new financial year are received, it is proposed that an informal conference should take place between representatives of the Board, the Society, and the Development Commission, with a view to defining rather more precisely the relation between the Society and the Board and the purposes to which the Grants from the Development Fund and the Small Holdings Account should be applied. I think it is desirable that the Board should defer nominating representatives on the governing body of the Society until these preliminary points are 9 settled. But there appears to me to be no reason why the affiliated societies should not proceed at once to elect members of the governing body in accordance with the rules.