§ MR. SAMUDAasked the Vice President of the Privy Council, Whether the Government has been able to make arrangements with the German Government by which cattle from Schleswig-Holstein can be imported without the necessity of being slaughtered at the port of landing, and therefore, as regards London, with a free permission to 703 pass alive to the Metropolitan Cattle Market at Islington?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERAn Order will appear in The Gazette to-day with regard to the importation of cattle from Schleswig-Holstein; and as it relates to a most important matter, perhaps the House will allow me to explain the meaning of the Order. All cattle from Germany are considered under the Cattle Diseases Act as scheduled cattle, and, accordingly, for some time past they have, in pursuance of an Order of the Privy Council, been slaughtered at the port of landing. The reason why it was necessary to keep up that restriction is because of the proximity of Germany to Russia and other countries in which the cattle plague permanently exists, for, of course, we could not be secure that in admitting cattle from German ports we should not admit cattle which came from Russia, or which had been in contact with infected cattle. We have been always sorry that that restriction applied to cattle from Schleswig-Holstein, where large numbers of cattle are bred, and where experience has shown that they are as free from disease as cattle in most countries, if not more free. But no arrangement seemed possible by which we could be sure that we had to do only with cattle from Schleswig-Holstein. However, I am glad to say that the German Government, having shown much interest in the matter and much willingness to meet the demands of the trade, have now arranged, through my noble Friend the Foreign Secretary, to give to cattle imported from Schleswig-Holstein a Government certificate of origin declaring that they are really bred in that country. The Order, which will be issued to-day, will allow such cattle to be imported, and to go into inland towns or into the Metropolitan Cattle Market at Islington in the same manner as cattle from Denmark and Holland, provided those conditions are fulfilled which, after careful consideration, we deem sufficient.