HC Deb 19 March 1906 vol 154 cc87-8
MR. VINCENT KENNEDY

I beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, if he will state why the quarantine on pigs exported from Cavan, the chief pig-rearing county in Ireland, to Scotland should be continued, there being no disease ex-sting in Cavan; and, in view of the loss to the farmers of the county consequent upon this quarantine, will he, if there be any doubt about the existence of disease, idirect that a declaration by the farmer selling and the dealer buying, that there is no existing disease, be accepted in lieu of quarantine, and thus protect this industry.

MR. HERBERT SAMUEL (for Sir EDWARD STRACHEY)

In view of the fact that there are no restrictions on the movement of swine from one part of Ireland to another, it is necessary to treat the country as a whole, and we cannot grant preferential treatment to any particular county. The regulations governing the importation of swine into Great Britain have, however, recently been modified so as to admit of the introduction of store pigs under certain conditions, and they are now practically identical with those which regulate the movement of swine from one district to another in this country. My hon. friend regrets that he is unable to promise any further relaxation under existing conditions.