§ MR. PARKER SMITH (Lanark, Partick)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the great sufferings of Irish cattle on their transit from Irish fairs to British markets, and especially to Glasgow; whether any of the improvements suggested by the Irish Cattle Trade Association and by the Chief Travelling Inspector of the Privy Council, in his Report dated July 1889, have been carried into effect; and whether he will be willing, in co-operation with the Board of Agriculture, to institute inquiries into the treatment of these cattle during the whole of their journey with a view to removing the various causes of needless suffering?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. MORLEY,) Newcastle-upon-TyneThe question of the treatment of Irish cattle in transit to British markets has frequently been brought under notice, and the Irish Veterinary Department is fully alive to the importance of securing for such cattle protection from unnecessary hardship and ill-usage. The suggestions in the Report of the chief travelling Inspector of the Board of Agriculture, dated July, 1889, as well as those made by Agricultural and Trade Associations, were prominently brought before the Railway and Shipping Com- 1032 panies, who expressed themselves most anxious to give every assistance in preventing injury to cattle in transit. Special instructions were also given in 1889, renewed in 1891, to the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police, as well as to the Inspectors employed under the Veterinary Department, to take all necessary steps to prevent cruelty to cattle at fairs, markets, railway stations, and places of shipment, &c. The shipment of cattle is under the direct supervision of a staff of ship Inspectors specially appointed for the purpose, and they have strict instructions to see that cattle are not overcrowded, and that the various regulations respecting the fittings, ventilation, &c, of vessels are duly carried out. Unfortunately there exists, no doubt, much room for improvement in the matter of structural arrangements on cattle-carrying vessels, although I gladly admit that the Shipping Companies have done much in the matter of bettering the ventilation on board. The Veterinary Department, Dublin, will place itself in communication with the Board of Agriculture in England, and I hope some measures will be devised to promote the objects which the hon. Member so humanely has in view.