§ MR. BOWERMANI beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether his attention has been called to the Report of the Markets' Committee of the Corporation of the City of London, in which it is stated that fewer live cattle are coming from Canada and the United States, causing a reduction 1142 in the quantity of freshly-killed meat, Which is made up by increased importations of preserved and frozen products, and lessening the circulation of wages in the meat-producing and kindred industries; and whether he will cause independent inquiry to be made as to relaxing the regulations of the Board with regard to the landing of animals for slaughter in Great Britain, and as to other methods of increasing, with due regard to the safety of native flocks and herds, the supply of freshly-killed meat to British markets.
§ SIR EDWARD STRACHEYOur attention has been called to the Report to which my hon. friend refers, but as there is no evidence to show that the meat supplies of the people are in any way curtailed by the existing law affecting the importation of cattle there seems to be no necessity for the institutions of an inquiry as suggested.