HC Deb 25 February 1907 vol 169 cc1227-9
MR. JOHN O'CONNOR (Kildare, N.)

To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, what are the Returns of the imports into the United Kingdom of beef and mutton in hundredweights and their respective values for the years 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, with

holdings above 50 acres and not exceeding 300 acres, and holdings above 300 acres respectively; and whether the respective proportion in each class of arable and permanent grass can be given.

(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The total area returned as under crops and grass in England and Wales in 1906 was 27,393,716 acres, but the Returns do not show the proportion of arable land and permanent grass in the different classes of holdings in that year. The latest available information of that nature relates to the year 1895, and the following table shows the number of holdings of each class in 1906 and the proportions of arable and pasture in each class in 1895.

Number of Agricultural Holdings in each of the under-mentioned Classes as returned upon the 4th June, 1906, in England and Wales, with the proportion in each Class of Arable Land and Permanent Grass in 1895.

the average imports and values of the same for the years 1891–5, 1896–1900, and 1901–5; and will he give a like Return of the quantities of butter and flax imported in the same years, with averages of values for above periods.

(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The following table will give the information desired:—

Quantities and values of Beef Mutton, Butter, and Flax imported into United Kingdom in each of the years 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, with the Averages for the years 1891–1895, 1896–1900 and 1901–1905.
Years. Beef. Mutton. Butter. Flax.
Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value.
Cwts. £ Cwts. £ Cwts. £ Cwts. £
1903 4,805,913 10,123,592 4,065,776 7,932,390 4,060,694 20,798,707 1,894,020 3,675,664
1904 5,051,253 9,857,322 3,530,659 6,946,989 4,241,005 21,117,162 1,498,340 3,185,475
1905 5,778,357 10,923,299 3,841,180 7,413,602 4,147,866 21,586,622 1,801,960 3,581,808
1906 5,986,793 11,115,312 4,137,132 7,781,497 4,338,383 23,466,252 1,747,300 3,558,567
Average of—
1891–1895 2,711,805 5,599,502 2,154,345 4,100,120 2,409,317 12,802,379 1,668,760 2,765,772
1896–1900 3,929,014 7,822,416 3,346,586 5,319,004 3,246,608 16,377,403 1,847,560 2,938,564
1901–1905 5,050,556 10,245,550 3,771,165 7,236,135 4,025,478 20,665,316 1,634,800 3,291,467
Note.—Beef includes fresh and salted beef and preserved otherwise than by salting.
Mutton includes fresh and preserved mutton.
Flax includes dressed and undressed flax and tow.