§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Minister of Agriculture if he will inquire into the case, details of which have been submitted to him, in which, during the floods in the Fenlands, while farm labourers and others were working to clear the roads of snow and sustain the dams, the local staff of the Cambridgeshire A.E.C., with one exception, refused to co-operate, although unable, owing to floods, to carry out their normal duties; and whether this abstention was by direction of the committee of approved by them.
§ Mr. T. WilliamsI have made inquiries and I understand that the labour, lorries and materials controlled by the Cambridgeshire War Agricultural Executive Committee were placed at the disposal of the Great Ouse Catchment Board which was directly responsible for co-ordinating the operations against the floods. In the district referred to the committee were made responsible for work on the stretch of bank between Bottisham Lode and Upware. When not actually engaged on the work done on this section of the bank, the committee's employees necessarily had to stand by day and night and thus quite properly were not at liberty to answer calls made by private individuals to undertake work elsewhere.