§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDTo ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that, owing to the system of inspection of cattle before slaughter in Australia, there has been no complaint in reference to Australian tinned meats; and whether this will be borne in mind by the Government in view of the necessity which may arise for the purchase of tinned provisions.
(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) I understand that there is a very careful inspection of cattle before slaughter in the various States of Australia and in New Zealand, and I am not aware that any 615 complaint has been made in regard to tinned meat imported from those Colonies. Very little, if any, tinned meat is imported at present from Australia, but as regards the imports from New Zealand, the Secretary of State recently, at the request of the Colonial Government, drew the attention of the various Government Departments concerned in the matter to the fact that all frozen and tinned meats sent from that Colony are subject to minute inspection under stringent conditions carried out by duly qualified inspectors.