§ Mr. BRIGHT (Shropshire, Oswestry)To ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that the changes of policy with regard to sheep scab have caused loss and inconvenience to Oswestry; that the loss of trade has been estimated at 1,000 to 1,100 sheep per week, and that it has been proposed to remove the sheep market from Oswestry to Llanrhaiadr; and whether he 1045 will take steps to remedy this state of things.
(Answered by Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes.) I have received representations on this subject from the town council of Oswestry, and have been in communication respecting it with the county council of Salop, who are the local authority under the Diseases of Animals Acts. The district from which Oswestry mainly draws its supplies is undoubtedly a dangerous one from the point of view of sheep scab, and the county council consider that under existing conditions the holding of markets there for any undipped sheep brought from that district would be attended with considerable risk of the introduction and spreading of the disease. The arrangements made at the market were, moreover, not altogether of a satisfactory character. In these circumstances the county council have withdrawn the licence issued by them under the Sheep Scab (Regulation of Movement) Order, 1905, and I regret that I do not see my way to interfere with the discretion of the local authority in this respect.