§ MR. CROMBIEI beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, in recent years, a large number of our best breeding cattle are being exported to Argentina and other countries competing with us in the meat trade; whether the cattle so exported have passed a tuberculine test before leaving this country; and whether those that have failed to pass this test and been rejected are permitted to be disposed of for purposes of breeding and slaughter at home.
§ MR. HERBERT SAMUEL (for Sir EDWARD STRACHEY)There is a considerable export trade in breeding cattle from this country to Argentina, but the cattle are not required to pass the tuberculine test before leaving these shores. The regulations of the Argentine Government require that all imported cattle should be tested with tuberculine at the conclusion of a period of forty days quarantine after landing, and that any animals giving a diagnostic reaction shall be slaughtered. Under no circumstances can cattle exported to Argentina be brought back to this country.