Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture. – in the House of Commons at on 11 March 1935.
Mr Thomas Williams
, Don Valley
asked the Minister of Agriculture how many farmers have been fined or prosecuted for planting an acreage of potatoes in excess of the area allocated by the Potato Marketing Board?
Mr Walter Elliot
, Glasgow Kelvingrove
A registered producer who plants potatoes in excess of his basic acreage may be called upon by the Potato Marketing Board to make a special contribution to the Board's funds not exceeding £5 per acre of the excess acreage. I understand that the excess planting last season amounted to approximately 3,000 acres, but I do not know how many farmers were concerned.
Mr Thomas Williams
, Don Valley
Were any of the farmers who planted in excess of the acreage allotted to them prosecuted and subsequently fined by the Potato Marketing Board?
Mr Walter Elliot
, Glasgow Kelvingrove
I think nobody has been fined, but that in all the cases where excess acreage was planted the levy of £5 an acre has been imposed.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
