§ Lord APSLEYasked the Minister of Agriculture whether, in view of the 56W respectively, were engaged on the land during the same years?
Mr. WOODThe acreage of arable land and number of workers employed on agricultural holdings in England and Wales as returned on 4th June in each of the undermentioned years were as follows:—
shortage of men qualified to cut and bind hedges in dairy-farming and pastoral districts, it is the intention of the Ministry to promote training in the art among unemployed juveniles in or near such districts?
Mr. WOODInstruction in hedging (among other manual processes) is already provided by many local authorities. As the Noble Lord is no doubt aware, the primary responsibility for this, as for other forms of agricultural education, rests with those authorities. The Ministry does its best to encourage the extension of this particular kind of instruction, and provides two-thirds of the cost.