59. Mr. Geoffrey Wilsonasked the Minister of Agriculture why Mr. R. H. Richards, formerly senior inspector of agriculture of the Sudan Government, has been refused accredited status and supplementary feeding rations under the Poultry Stock Improvement Plan on his purchase of the premises and stock of Angarrick poultry farm, Mylor, which has been accredited under this plan for a number of years.
§ Mr. G. BrownAccredited status under the Poultry Stock Improvement Plan is conferred on a breeder and cannot be transferred by sale. No new entrants are being admitted this year but Mr. Richards will be able to apply for admission when re-opening of the plan becomes possible.
Mr. WilsonWhat does the Minister propose should be done meanwhile with this excellent stock, which has been in existence for some years? How is it to be continued in existence? Would it not be more profitable to keep the present stock going than to spend a lot of money in trying to produce eggs in Gambia?
§ Mr. BrownThe hon. Member has missed the point of the accredited plan altogether. It would be unfair to people who have spent a lot of money building up accredited stocks, while waiting admission to the scheme, to allow a person to buy, at an inflated price, somebody else's accredited status.