§ MR. H. H. MARKS (Kent, Thanet)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board what was the number of the local authorities to which the tuberculosis circular of the Board of 11th March, 1899, adverting to the Report of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, and enclosing copies of model regulations for the control and inspection of dairies, was sent; and how many of such authorities have since made regulations or revised existing regulations in accordance with the views expressed by the Board in the circular.
I beg also to ask the President of the Local Government Board, in view of the possible danger to the public from the sale of tuberculous milk, if the Local Government Board have any power to compel a local authority, within the 606 meaning of the Dairy, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Order of 1885, to make regulations for the inspection of cattle in dairies contemplated by Article 13 of the Order; and if there are any, and if so, how many, local authorities in England and Wales which up to the present have made no such regulations.
§ MR. JOHN BURNSI have no power to compel the making of regulations under Article 13 of the Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Order, but regulations under the Article are in force in all except about 340 out of some 1,800 urban and rural districts. The precise figures will appear in a Return now in preparation which was moved for by my hon. friend the Member for the Brentford Division. The regulations usually contain an article as to the inspection of cattle in dairies. The Circular of 11th March, 1899, was sent to the councils of all urban and rural districts. Regulations under the Order have since been made by 906 of these councils, and they have generally been based on the model regulations issued by the Local Government Board.