§ ADMIRAL FIELD (Sussex, Eastbourne)asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is a fact that a General Order exists in Cyprus prohibiting the issue of beef, bred and fed in the Island, to our troops quartered there, and that, consequently, the necessary animals are imported from Russia and elsewhere for the purpose; and, whether he is aware that great and successful efforts have been made to improve the quality of the beef raised in the Island since the occupation, so that competent judges now declare that it is equal to, if not better than, the imported beef; and, if this be true, whether he will give instructions that native grown beef shall, in future, be accepted, and even a preference given to it, provided it is equal in quality and price to that hitherto imported by the commissariat, with a view to encourage native enterprize in this not too flourishing British Dependency?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)The contract for the supply of beef in the Island of Cyprus requires that it shall be imported; and the officer commanding, in his last Report, described the Cypriote horned cattle as of small size and underfed, and stated that a local supply of beef of sufficiently good quality could not be relied upon. Provided, however, the proper standard of quality can be maintained, I shall be glad to encourage local breeding as far as may be practicable.