§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will take further steps to ensure the survival of the elm tree by encouraging local authorities to take more particular action to remove dead and dying specimens.
§ Mrs. FennerNo. Elms which have been killed by Dutch elm disease and which have been dead for some time are rarely sources of further infection and an increase in felling in southern Britain would have no practical effect on its spread. In general, the only hope of saving a proportion of the remaining healthy elms for a few more years lies in Northern Britain, where local authorities have powers enabling them to fell, or to require the felling of, infected trees. They are already encouraged by the Forestry Commission to exercise these powers and to concentrate their resources where they will be most effective, that is in towns and areas of high amenity value where the incidence of the disease is still low.