45. Lieut.-Colonel SPENDER CLAYasked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been drawn to the demand for the continuance of the control of hops for a period of five years; whether he is aware that all parties connected with the industry are agreed as to the necessity for such continuance, and that growers are unwilling to replant their gardens, the acreage of which was reduced by order of the Government by 50 per cent. in 1917, in the absence of any definite announcement; and whether the Government proposes to deal with the matter in the Agriculture Bill, notice of which has already been given?
Sir A. BOSCAWENThe Government are fully alive to the importance of this matter, and intend to take adequate steps to deal with it. I am not, however, in a position to state the precise methods which will be adopted.