§ MR. JOHN WARDI beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he has received any protests from trading firms in Stoke-on-Trent against the Foreign Hay and Straw Order, 1908; whether such protests contain statements that the prohibition of the importation of hay and straw used for the purposes of packing china and earthenware is crippling the trade of the district, that there is not sufficient of this class of straw grown in the district to supply one-tenth of the demand; and whether, under these circumstances, he will consider the advisability of revoking the Order at the earliest possible date.
§ THE TREASURER OF THE HOUSEHOLD (Sir EDWARD STRACHEY,) Somersetshire, S.We have received representations on this subject from a firm of hay and straw merchants in Stoke-on-Trent, but it does not appear at present that any general difficulty exists in meeting the requirements of the trade in china and earthenware. As my hon. friend will remember, the outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease which recently occurred in Edinburgh had their origin in hay brought from abroad, and the Order in question was issued to prevent any possibility of any similar occurrences in the future, and there is no intention at present of revoking it.