§ Lieut.-Colonel Lockwoodasked the Minister of Agriculture why he insists upon a small dairy herd being kept at Ningwood Manor, Newport, Isle of 52W Wight, in view of the fact that this establishment was left to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on trust for the specific purpose of keeping old horses, and that the Society cannot adequately carry out the terms of that trust if he insists upon the establishment of a dairy herd on that property.
Mr. T. WilliamsI am not insisting. While appreciating the humane purpose of the Society's establishment at Ningwood, and the limitations imposed by the terms of the trust, I have a duty to ensure that agricultural land is used productively. My Department has suggested to the Society that some form of agricultural production ought not to be inconsistent with the primary purpose of the establishment at Ningwood Manor, and, with the knowledge of the Charity Commissioners who are responsible for seeing that the trusts are kept, milk production was suggested. As a result of correspondence, however, my Department has very recently offered to send an officer of the Agricultural Land Service to meet a representative of the Society at Ningwood to discuss again what form of agricultural production could reasonably be undertaken.