§ 2.41 p.m.
§ LORD ELTONMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are satisfied that sufficient use is being made by the Ministry of Agriculture of the compulsory powers under Sections 98 and 100 of the Agriculture Act, 1947, for the purpose of preventing damage to crops by rabbits.]
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (LORD CARRINGTON)My Lords, there are serious limitations to the use of the statutory powers provided by Sections 98 and 100 of the Agriculture Act of 1947. There is, for example, a specific legal duty on a person to control rabbits on his land only if he has been served with a notice to remedy conditions found to exist at a particular time, and that duty is fulfilled when the requirements of the notice are satisfied. The procedure of individual inspection and the service of individual notices requires much time and effort, and as each notice must provide for a reasonable period for compliance it is impossible to arrange for collective 35 action over an area where this is dependent on such notices. Within those limitations, however, we are using the powers as effectively as possible. As I indicated in the debate on November 28, on the Second Reading of the noble Lord's Bill, we shall also consider the need for more effective powers when a favourable opportunity presents itself.
§ LORD ELTONMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord for his interesting answer, and especially, perhaps, for the last sentence of it. May I also ask whether he can tell us anything of the approximate number of notices issued under these sections of the Act? May I further inquire whether he has any observations to offer on a case in the magistrates court at Dorking last month, in which a farmer was fined as a poacher for shooting rabbits on his neighbour's land, and in which it had been alleged that £1,000 worth of damage to crops had been done by rabbits coming off that land?
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, may I answer first the last part of the supplementary question? I have been looking into the case mentioned by the noble Lord, and it seems to me that the shooting tenant had done everything he could to keep the rabbits down. The difficulty was that he could not find a house in which to put a trapper whom he had engaged for the task. But since March 31 there has been a trapper from the county agricultural committee working on contract and destroying the vermin in his woods. With regard to the noble Lord's first question, between the period September 30, 1949, and September 30, 1950, 169 notices were served.
§ VISCOUNT BUCKMASTERMy Lords, in view of the damage done to the food production of this country by rabbits, I should like to ask whether the noble Lord would consider addressing a circular letter to all the county agricultural executive committees once more bringing the matter strongly to their notice.
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, there are elaborate arrangements in force in regard to the killing of vermin, and an agreement has been entered into with the National Farmers' Union and the Country Landowners' Association, together with the county agricultural committees, and they are taking steps in each county to introduce area schemes for the killing of rabbits.