§ MR. C. E. PRICE (Edinburgh, Central)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether the county clerk of Berwickshire reported to the Highland Agricultural Society that, of eleven samples of feeding stuffs analysed, six were reported as faulty; and, as the presence of anthrax bacilli in feeding stuffs was also declared to be accountable for the spread of that disease in the Lothians, resulting in the death of several animals, what steps he will take in these districts to check the manufacture and sale of defective feeding stuffs under the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act of 1906.
§ THE TREASURES OF THE HOUSEHOLD (Sir EDWARD STRACHEY, Somersetshire, S.)My right hon. friend has asked me to answer this Question. We have seen a copy of the Report to which my hon. friend refers, and we have been in communication with the local authority respecting it. It appears that the samples were taken before the Act of last session came into operation, and that the local authority were not aware of the result of the analyses until it was too late to take proceedings against any of the vendors. It is clearly necessary, in the interest of agriculturists, that the law, as it now stands, should be vigorously enforced in the county, and one of our inspectors will be instructed to confer with the local authority as to the steps to be taken for this purpose.