§ MR. GEORGE LAMBERT (Devon, South Molton)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, if he has any evidence to show whether milk obtained from cows suffering from foot and mouth disease is injurious to health; and, whether large quantities of milk are imported from Holland, which 798 is scheduled under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1878, as containing cattle infected with foot and mouth disease; if so, will he take proper precautions to prevent such milk from being utilized for human consumption in this country?
ADMIRAL FIELD (Sussex, Eastbourne)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, whether any steps have been taken by the Department to secure the prohibition of importation of foreign milk from countries from which the, importation of cattle is already prohibited by the Board of Agriculture; if not, will he, in view of the Report recently issued by the Department on the spread of tuberculosis through the consumption of milk from diseased animals, confer with the President of the Board of Agriculture upon the subject, in order to stop such importation of milk from the countries aforesaid?
§ MR. SHAW LEFEVREI am not aware that there is any evidence that disease has been spread in this country by imported milk. With insignificant exceptions imported milk is in a condensed form, and the processes of heat to which it is subjected, I am advised, destroys its power to convey infection, whether of foot-and-mouth disease or tuberculosis. The Local Government Board have no power to prohibit the importation of foreign milk.