§ 71. Mr. de ROTHSCHILDasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is 36 bodies a table of statistics, I propose to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the reply:
§ The total area of land held by local authorities for allotment purposes on the 31st December, 1928, the last date for which complete figures are available, was 62,977 acres let to 473,674 allotment holders. It was not until the passing of the Allotments Act, 1925, that local authorities were required to furnish returns showing the previous rateable value of land acquired, and a table giving particulars since that date is appended. I have no information as to the annual contributions made from local rates towards the allotment undertakings of the various local authorities. As regards the remaining parts of the question, I would remind my hon. Friend that the Allotments Acts date from 1887, and nearly 7,000 local authorities hold land for the purpose of allotments. It is obviously impossible, within the limits of an answer to a Parliamentary Question, to furnish a complete list of these local authorities with particulars of the land acquired during the last 40 years and still held. Moreover, in the interests of economy the Ministry has refrained, since 1914, from publishing these details in its Annual Reports. The Report for 1928 contains, however, a considerable amount of summarised information, and I am sending my hon. Friend a copy.
§ aware that over 100,000 second-hand potato bags coming from America and marked Maine Potatoe have been sold 37 here in large quantities, and that these bags are not allowed into Denmark and Scandinavia on account of the contagious disease of the Colorado beetle; and whether, in order to avoid this danger, he will take immediate steps to prohibit the sale of these bags in Great Britain as soon as possible and have the bags which have already been sold withdrawn from circulation?
§ Mr. N. BUXTONMy attention had not previously been drawn to this matter. I am causing inquiries to be made.