§ MR. COURTHOPETo ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, what precautions are being taken in the United States of America to prevent the spreading of foot and mouth disease from Pennsylvania to the neighbouring States; whether the Board considers that these precautions render the adjoining States sufficiently secure to justify the continued import of cattle and fodder from them into this country; and what steps have been taken with respect to imported hides and the hides of animals slaughtered at the port of entry.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The most rigid precautions have been taken by the Federal Government, and include absolute prohibition of exportation of cattle of quarantined States, through which animals are only allowed to pass by rail in sealed cars under official supervision. Hides, skins, and hoofs of cattle or sheep, and hay, straw, and fodder, can only be exported from such State after disinfection under official supervision. The Board, as at present advised, see no reason for increasing the restrictions they themselves have imposed either as regards the importation of fodder or of hides generally. 1756 The Board's inspectors have ample powers for dealing with hides of animals landed at our ports.