§ Mr. GWYNNEasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether the executive committees in all the counties have carried out the demands of his Department in finding their quota of skilled agriculturists for the Army; and, if not, which counties have found themselves unable to comply with the request of his Department?
§ Sir R. WINFREYWe have not yet received the complete returns from the counties which would enable a reply to be given to the question, and in any case the Board must consider very carefully whether the information asked for could be made public.
§ Mr. GWYNNEasked the President of the Board of Agriculture under what system the calling up of the 35,000 skilled agriculturists has been carried out; whether each county has been asked to provide their quota according to acreage or population; whether the number of recruits already drawn from each county has been taken into consideration; and, if so, whether a smaller quota has been demanded from those counties which have already done their share in providing recruits for the Army?
§ Sir R. WINFREYThe total levy fixed for England and Wales is 30,000, not 35,000. In fixing the contribution of each county towards this 30,000, as the President stated in his speech on 1st July, the following figures were carefully considered: The number of men actually 1741W upon the farms in each county between the ages of nineteen and thirty-one, the actual arable acreage in each county, and the number of men who had been recruited for the Army in each county during the War, whether voluntarily or compulsorily. On the basis of those three sets of figures the quota for each county was fixed.