HC Deb 31 July 1890 vol 347 cc1339-40
MR. HOWELL (Betknal Green, N.E.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether his attention has been called to the cruelties which attend the importation of live cattle into this country from transatlantic ports, and to the dangers to merchant seamen in connection therewith; whether his Department has evidence to show that the prohibition of the shipment to this country of live cattle for food would necessarily raise the price of meat to the consumer, seeing that the cattle now so shipped could also be shipped as dead meat; and, if so, to what probable amount; whether he has any Statutory powers for regulating the traffic in live cattle, so as to prevent the cruelties referred to; and, if so, under what Acts; and whether he is prepared to make regulations under these Acts for the prevention of the cruelties complained of pending further legislation?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. CHAPLIN,) Lincolnshire, Sleaford

Yes, Sir, my attention has been called to the suffering of cattle referred to in the first paragraph of the question, which, I am afraid, is inseparable from every passage across the Atlantic in bad weather. With regard to the second paragraph, we have certainly no evidence to show that the prohibition of the shipment to this country of live cattle for food from transatlantic ports would raise the price of meat to the consumer; on the contrary, I should say, from inquiries I have made since the question appeared on the Paper, that the presumption would be the other way. I am informed that the meat of American cattle killed in Great Britain was selling to-day at 3s. 9d. per stone of 81b., while the meat of animals killed in America, and sent to this country as dead meat, was selling at 2s. 7d. In reply to the third paragraph, the Board of Agriculture has considerable powers under the Con- tagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1878–1890, to make regulations for the purpose of preventing the cruelties referred to. And in reply to the last paragraph, I may say that I have already arranged for the appointment of a Joint Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade and the Board of Agriculture to consider what further regulations may be necessary to prevent, or, at all events, to minimise, as far as possible, the suffering of cattle on their passage across the Atlantic.