HC Deb 28 April 1908 vol 187 c1050
MR. HALPIN (Clare, W.)

To ask the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether he can state the number of samples of calf meal the inspectors have analysed for the six months ending 1st March, 1908, and the number of samples that were adulterated; and whether the inspectors have taken proceedings against those who sold the adulterated stuff.

(Answered by Mr. T. W. Russell.) The Department have analysed, during the period mentioned, thirteen samples of meals sold in Ireland for calf-rearing purposes. This period does not, however, include the season when such materials are in general use. The Department have most serious grounds of complaint that proprietary meals are often in very bad condition, and even when of the guaranteed composition, though they cannot strictly be regarded as adulterated, they are generally most unsuitable for calf-rearing purposes, and in every respect too expensive as compared with the materials recommended by the Department. In many cases the proprietary calf-meals are not sufficiently nutritious, with the result that when calves are fed on them they become sickly, and in some instances have died. In two instances in County Kerry, where after most careful inquiry the Department had every reason to believe that the use of protoid milk substitute, sold by the Protoid Company, of Liverpool, had actually caused the death of calves, they advised the purchasers to sue the company for damages. The purchasers took steps to do so, but the Department were subsequently informed that, owing to the death of the agent who sold the meal, the proceedings would have had to be taken in Liverpool, a course the farmers were not prepared to adopt.