§ 15. Mr. PETOasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he has approved the contemplated prohibition by the Munitions Department of the sale of shot-gun ammunition except to Farmers for the protection of crops; and whether ho can state what steps his Department Intend to take to secure the utilisation of the season's crop of grouse, Mack game, pheasants, and partridges as human food, and to prevent over-stocking and consequent damage to crops if no facilities for killing them are afforded?
§ Sir R. WINFREYThe Board have been in communication for some time past with the Ministry of Munitions and the Army Council on the subject of the restrictions which it has been found necessary to impose on the use of lead in cartridges. At the request of those Departments the Board agreed that the Agricultural Executive Committtees should act as the authorities for the issue of licences for the purchase of cartridges required for the destruction of vermin and the preservation of crops. It does not appear to the Board that the issue of licences for the purchase of cartridges for shooting game, except so far as this is necessary for the protection of crops, is a matter which comes within the functions of the Board or of the Agricultural Executive Committees. Any action which may be necessary from the point of view of providing food is a matter for the Food Controller.