HC Deb 11 June 1907 vol 175 cc1209-11
MR. RENDALL (Gloucestershire, Thornbury)

To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, what, having regard to Sheep Dipping Order of 1907, a person or owner of sheep must do when driving sheep through unfenced fields or commons in which there is a public road or thorough-fare (and other sheep are grazing in such fields or commons) in the event of sheep belonging to different owners becoming mixed with each other; whether both lots of sheep must be left together on the land in which they got mixed for ten days and be dipped previous to removal; and whether both parties will be deemed guilty of an offence under the Order if either party should remove such sheep previous to the time stated in the order.

MR. RENDALL

To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, how, having regard to the Sheep Dipping Order of 1907, farmers or dealers are to manage when sending sheep a long distance to a fair, market, sale, or otherwise, by the highway, if they cannot rest them and have them fed on some person's land or premises; whether they are compelled to keep them for several days on the highway without proper food and comfort, or, if the sheep are give rest on any premises or fields, must they be detained ten days and dipped previous to removal; whether the owner of the laud or premises must give notice to the local authority previous to such removal, and in the event of non-compliance are both parties liable under the Act of 1894, especially having regard to the fact that the exemptions given in the Order only apply to sheep moved by railway without being untrucked within the area and those for exhibition.

MR. RENDALL

To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, what is to happen if sheep belonging to neighbours trespass and accidentally get together; whether both lots of sheep must be dipped previous to those trespassing being restored to the rightful owner; and, if not, whether both parties are liable under the Dipping Order of 1907.

MR. RENDALL

To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, under the Sheep Dipping Order of 1907, no one can take sheep from a farm to a washpool which may be on another farm without being liable to proceedings under the Order.

MR. RENDALL

To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, having regard to the hardships inflicted on dealers, farmers, and butchers, through there not being sufficient and proper exemptions provided by the Sheep Dipping Order of 1907, and through the difficulty of interpreting it, he will have the Order amended, or cause to be prepared and supplied gratis to those interested, an explanatory treatise on the Order.

(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) It will be convenient for me to reply at the same time to this and the four succeeding Questions standing in the name of my hon. friend. It was necessary, in order to secure the general dipping of sheep in the area to which the Sheep Dipping (England) Order applies, that provision should be made for preventing so far as is practicable the contact of dipped with undipped sheep; but whether in any particular instance such contact will necessitate any further dipping, or expose an owner to legal proceedings, must depend upon the circumstances of the particular case. This, in the first instance, is a matter for the consideration of the local authority concerned. The Board do not consider that the temporary detention for rest and feeding of sheep which are being moved by road is in itself to be regarded as involving the requirements of dipping. The Order expressly provides for the movement of sheep from a place of detention for the purpose of dipping, and it empowers local authorities to grant exemptions from the dipping requirements where the circumstances render it impracticable or inexpedient to enforce them. It rests with the local authorities to enforce the Order and to make its requirements known to those concerned, and full information has been supplied to those authorities for the purpose of enabling them to discharge their duties in this respect