§ MR. BARRIE (Londonderry, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether he has found any difficulty in securing an adequate supply of home-fed meat, at a reasonable price, for Army requirements; what is the saving he expects to effect by permitting the supply of foreign meat to the Army; and whether he is prepared to reconsider his decision to permit the supply of foreign meat to the Army in view of the present want of confidence in foreign meat, and the serious injury that will be caused to British and Irish farmers by the threatened partial or total displacement of home-fed meat for Army use.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) There has been no difficulty in obtaining
—The Return was as follows:—Belfast (Valuation. Return showing the Valuations placed upon each House in Royal Avenue and Donegal Place, Belfast, at the recent re-valuation, showing (1) the Valuation fixed in first instance; (2) after the first appeal; (3) after the appeal to the Recorder.1112 home-bred beef; but so long as there were no tenders for foreign home-killed beef, it could not be possible to say whether the price was reasonable in comparison. Further, it would not be possible to estimate the saving without obtaining tenders to the two specifications. As regards the last part of the Question I have nothing to add to my previous replies on this subject, beyond pointing out that the want of confidence mentioned applies to tinned meat and not to live cattle killed at port of entry.