§ MR. HALPIN (Clare, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, considering the facts that have come to light regarding imported tinned meats, and the danger attaching to the use of the same, he will give instructions to all the public institutions under his control to discontinue the use of the said meats, which is one of the chief causes of the abnormal death rate from consumption in the British Isles and the spreading of diseases unknown before the establishment of the foreign tinned meat trade.
MR. BRYCEWithout offering an opinion upon the point raised in the concluding part of the Question, I may inform the hon. Member that tinned meats are not used in Irish prisons. The management of district lunatic asylums is vested in committees of the county councils, and I am informed that tinned meats do not appear in any of the fixed dietary scales of these institutions. As regards workhouses, the Local Government Board are of opinion that boards of guardians in Ireland may safely be relied upon to take proper precautions as to the use of tinned meats, but, as a matter of fact, this class of food is not used to any appreciable extent in Irish workhouses.
§ MR. HALPINMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman that if tinned meats are to be used in the public institutions under his control he will give instructions to have the pure unadulterated tinned meats of Shaw and Denny, of Limerick, advertised for by these institutions? Then the poor inmates could be certain that no human flesh would be mixed up with their food. [Laughter.]
MR. BRYCEI think I have informed the hon. Member that I did not think tinned meats were being used, at any rate to any extent, in the institutions to which he alludes, nor do I believe to any considerable extent in the institutions under the local authorities.