§ MR. R. ASCROFT (Oldham)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture when the requirement of slaughter at the port of landing was first imposed in the case of United States and Argentine cattle; what was the number of such cattle imported into the United Kingdom in the four years preceding the imposition of slaughter, and in the four years 1892 to 1895; and, what was the amount of dead meat (beef and mutton) imported in the periods 1881 to 1885, 1886 to 1890, 1891 to 1895, inclusive?
* MR. LONGUnited States cattle have been required to be slaughtered at the port of landing since March 1879, and Argentine have always been subject to that requirement. The number of cattle imported from the United States was approximately 300 in 1875, 400 in 1876, 11,500 in 1877, and 68,000 in 1878. In the last four years the numbers have been 397,000 in 1892, 249,000 in 1893, 381,000 in 1894, and 274,000 in 1895. Very few Argentine cattle were imported prior to 1891. In that year we received about 4,000 head; in 1892, 3,500; in 1893, 6,900; in 1894, 9,500; and in 1895, nearly 39,000. The imports of beef averaged about 1,000,000 cwt. in the period 1881–1885 1,300,000 in 1886–1890, and 2,700,000 cwt. in 1881–1895. No figures are available as to the imports of mutton in 1881–1885. In 1886–1890 they averaged rather over 1,000,000 cwt., and in 1891–1895 2,150,000 cwt.