§ Colonel BURTONasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he can state the number of prosecutions instituted by the Milk Board; the amounts of fines or penalties imposed; what proportions of such sums have been paid; whether any petitions have been presented at the instigation of the Milk Board which have resulted in the adjudication of any of the defaulters as bankrupts, and what offer of payment, if any, was made by the persons so adjudicated; and whether any persons adjudicated as bankrupts were ex-service men?
§ Mr. W. S. MORRISONI am informed by the Milk Marketing Board that since the inception of the Milk Marketing Scheme they have imposed penalties upon registered producers for infringements of
524W
Year ended 30th June — 1936. 1935. 1934. 1933. qrs. qrs. qrs. qrs. Barley purchased … 946,228 941,268 872,976 686,732 Malt purchased … 986,143 923,257 899,155 715,921 Total … 1,932,371 1,864,525 1,772,131 1,402,653 cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. Total expressed in cwts. of barley … 7,729,484 7,458,100 7,088,524 5,610,612 Percentage of barrelage represented … 97½ 97 95 95 the scheme in 945 cases. In addition, penalties were imposed upon unregistered producers by courts for selling milk in contravention of the scheme in 41 cases. The aggregate amount of these penalties is approximately £23,000, of which the sum of £15,000 has been paid. I am also informed that 75 petitions in bankruptcy have been presented by the Board resulting in the adjudication of the defaulters as bankrupts. Of these three were registered producers and 72 were persons who purchased milk by wholesale under the scheme. In 57 of these cases (56 purchasers and one producer) no offers of payment were made; in ten cases (eight purchasers and two producers) the offers made were rejected by the Board as inadequate. In the remaining eight cases (all purchasers) the offers were accepted but they were not implemented by the defaulters. As to the last part of the question the Board have no information.