§ MR. HOWARD (Middlesex, Tottenham)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether his attention has been called to a statement that M. Pasteur is sending by the mail steamer Cuzco a supply of microbes des cholera de poules for the extermination of rabbits in the Australian Colonies; and, whether, having regard to the great danger that this poisonous matter may be injurious to sheep and thus to human beings also wherever Australian mutton is used, he will warn the Colonial Governments of the possible consequences of allowing M. Pasteur's instructions to be carried out?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)This is a matter in which Her Majesty's Government cannot interfere with the discretion of the Australian Governments, who, however, are fully aware of the objection which has been raised as to the possibility of the proposed method proving injurious to other animals besides those which it is desired to exterminate. Whether or not that objection is well-founded is a question on which I offer no opinion.