§ SIR JOHN LENG (Dundee)To ask the hon. Member for North Huntingdonshire, as representing the Board of Agriculture, whether the Home Government has received a despatch from the Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada complaining of a misapprehension of Canadian opinion by the British Minister of Agriculture regarding the embargo on the importation of Canadian cattle; if so, whether an answer has been sent to that despatch, and whether copies of the despatches can be laid upon the Table of the House.
(Answered by Mr. Ailwyn Fettowes.) I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for East Perthshire on the 16th inst., † in which I stated that we had been assured by the Canadian Government that public feeling and opinion in the Dominion were still in favour of the repeal of the existing statutory restrictions on the importation of live animals into this country, so far as Canadian cattle are concerned. A suitable acknowledgment has been sent, but we do not think that the publication of the correspondence is necessary, especially in view of the communication to the Press, recently issued by the High Commissioner, which fully sets out the views of his Government on the subject.