HC Deb 18 May 1868 vol 192 cc424-5
SIR ROBERT COLLIER

said, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether the restrictions on the importation of Cattle from Spain and Portugal to the Ports of Liverpool and Southampton having been removed, those restrictions will be continued against such importation to the Port of Plymouth?

LORD ROBERT MONTAGU

replied, that the Order in Council passed on Saturday last had been so framed as to meet the case of the hon. and learned Member, and to include Plymouth in the privilege. He would explain the Order more fully in reply to the Question of which the hon. Member for Cashel had given Notice.

MR. O'BEIRNE

said, he wished to ask, Whether there is any reason why the privileges now conceded to Cattle imported from Normandy, Britany, Spain, and Portugal should not also be conceded to Cattle imported into London from Ireland?

LORD ROBERT MONTAGU

replied, that Irish cattle were in every respect on the same footing as English cattle. English cattle had no privileges which Irish cattle did not enjoy. As to French and Spanish cattle no privileges had been extended to them which were not possessed by English and Irish cattle.

MR. TREVELYAN

said, he wished to ask, Whether the restrictions on the importation of Cattle from Spain and Portugal to the Ports of Liverpool and Southampton having been removed, these restrictions will be continued against such importation to the Port of North Shields?

LORD ROBERT MONTAGU

said, the Order in Council of Saturday last had been so framed that it applied to the whole line of coast from the North Foreland to the South and West round to the Mull of Cantire, including Glasgow. The reason of this was that towns on this coast had in former years drawn their foreign supplies only from Normandy, Brittany, Spain, or Portugal. The towns, on the other hand, to the north of the North Foreland had in former years drawn their supplies from Holland and the Baltic provinces. The French and Spanish trades were not natural to them. Besides, as they had no cattle ships which plied exclusively to Spain, they could not fulfill the required conditions or enter into the bond which was stipulated. The Order, therefore, did not apply to North Shields.