asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he will now make a full statement regarding the utilisation of peat-fuel resources in the main peat-bog areas of the country with a view to the supplementation of other fuel supplies from these sources.

A survey of peat sites in England and Wales has failed to discover unexploited sites capable of rapid or economic development. In Scotland an Inter-Departmental Committee has been set up to consider possible schemes of peat production and suggestions for schemes for hand-cutting peat in Lewis and Caithness are under consideration. In the meantime a site is being worked by my Department in Dumfriesshire.

Will the right hon. Gentleman himself try to seek out some of these peat deposits and in the national interests see that he is irretrievably bogged?