HC Deb 16 May 1928 vol 217 c1035
60. Mr. W. M. ADAMSON

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether any research has been made by his Department for the purification of effluent from sugar-beet factories; and the results of the experiments?

The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Guinness)

During the 1927–28 beet sugar manufacturing campaign the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research carried out, under the supervision of the Water Pollution Research Board, working scale experiments on the biological treatment of effluent from one of the largest beet sugar factories in the United Kingdom. Some information about the experiments was given in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Horncastle (Mr. Haslam) on 5th December last. At the same time fundamental scientific work on the subject has been and is being carried out at the ltothamsted Experiment Station. The results of the work, covering the period to the end of the 1927–28 manufacturing campaign, are promising, but the Board consider that they cannot yet be regarded as conclusive and the experiments will be continued during the 1928–29 manufacturing campaign.

The NUMBER of WORKERS employed on AGRICULTURAL, HOLDINGS above one acre in extent in the County of Stafford as returned on 4th June, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1927 are as follows:—
Year. Regular Workers. Casual Workers. Total Workers.
Males 21 years and over. Males under 21 years old Women and Girls. Total Regular Workers. Males 21 years and over. Males under 21 years old. Women and Girls. Total Casual Workers.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
1927 … 8,248 3,285 1,442 12,975 1,490 365 516 2,371 15,346
1926 … 8,287 3,315 1,478 13,080 1,889 432 593 2,914 15,994
1925 … 7,903 3,277 1,354 12,534 1,954 511 650 3,115 15,649
1924 … 7,895 3,555 1,492 12,942 1,794 478 691 2,963 15,905
1923 … 7,454 3,446 1,414 12,314 1,487 493 525 2,505 14,819
1921 … 7,943 3,644 1,670 13,257 2,233 529 681 3,443 16,700

NOTE.—These statistics were not collected in 1922.