§ 4 and 6. Mr. Haymanasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he will make a statement on prosecutions against certain road hauliers during the past two years for frauds connected with the agricultural lime subsidy on sea sand;
(2) why the farmers who have been involved in frauds connected with the agricultural subsidy on sea sand, for which certain road hauliers have been convicted, have not been prosecuted.
Mr. VaneIn the last two years there have been three such prosecutions, involving 11 hauliers and one approved supplier. Eleven of the accused were convicted, and the case of one haulier, which includes charges of forgery, has been committed to the Assizes.
The prosecutions were brought by the police in Cornwall in conjunction with my Department. The proceedings against the hauliers and the supplier were under the Larceny Act. Any statutory offences which might have been committed by farmers could not be proved within the period laid down in the Magistrates Courts Act. The laying of the charges was determined by the evidence available.