HC Deb 01 May 1902 vol 107 cc438-9
MR. WINGFIELD-DIGBY (Dorset, N.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether his Department has or could obtain any information as to the alleged practice of exporting again to continental countries the offals of corn imported to Liverpool and ground in mills there; and if he has any official reports showing that the prohibitive island railway rates make it cheaper to do this than to send them inland to England and Ireland for the benefit of the British farmer.

COLONEL PILKINGTON

May I at the same time ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that the greater portion of the offal derived from the milling of corn imported into and ground at Liverpool is exported to Denmark and other countries; and whether, having regard to the effect of the cost of railway carriage of these feeding stuffs on the British farmer, he can take any steps by legislation or otherwise for the reduction of the cost of carriage of feeding stuff's in England.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. HANBURY,) Preston

The principal ports at which wheat is imported are Liverpool, Hull, London, Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff', Newcastle, Leith, and Glasgow, and most of the largest mills are situated in proximity to them. The quantity of wheat offal produced in the United Kingdom may be roughly taken at 25 per cent. of the wheat grown and imported, about 24,000,000 cwts. of offal. The exports of bran and pollard have only been stated in the Annual Statistics of Trade for the last two years. In 1900 they amounted to 811,000 cwts., and in 1901 to 1,200,000 cwts., and three-fourths of the export was to Denmark, the remainder going to Sweden and the Channel Islands. I have not had time to ascertain the information asked for as to the cost of carriage by sea and by railway respectively, but I will get it.

MR. FLYNN (Cork Co., N.)

Cannot the right hon. Gentleman say whether it is not the fact that the export of this offal to Denmark gives the Danish farmer a great advantage over the British and Irish agriculturist?

MR. HANBURY

No doubt it does.