§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEsaid, he wished to ask the President of the Board of Trade, Whether it is true that the Customs authorities of New Shoreham have strict orders to seize and destroy all oysters brought into that port from the deep sea beds between the 30th April and the 1st September, but that no such orders have been issued in respect of ports north of the North Foreland; and that, in fact, oysters taken from the same beds are landed at those ports during the above period; if so, on what principle this distinction is made, as the words of the Act 18 & 19 Vict. c. 101, s. 2, empower officers of the Customs to seize "any oysters imported into or landed in any port of the United Kingdom?"
§ MR. MILNER GIBSONsaid, in reply, that it was true that the Customs authorities of New Shoreham had strict orders to seize and destroy all oysters brought into that port from the deep-sea beds, in the seas between the United Kingdom and France, between the 1st of May and the 31st of August, as required by the Act the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 101, s. 2; but it was not true that no such orders had been issued in respect of ports north of the North Foreland. The Board of Trade were not aware that there was any different practice at any port north of the North Foreland, or that there was any distinction between ports on one side and ports on the other side of the North Foreland as regards enforcing the provisions of the 2nd section of the Act the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 101, which empowered officers of the Customs to seize any oysters taken in the seas between the United Kingdom and France imported into or landed in any port of the United Kingdom between the 1st of May and the 3lst of August.