§ Mr. JOYCEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in the complaint made by the firm of W. J. Shaw and Sons, Limerick, as to the treatment of their goods by the Argentine authorities, the said firm emphatically denied that any boric acid had been used in the curing of their hams either now or at any other time, and in corroboration of this pointed to the fact that hundreds of their hams were exported every week to France, a country into which no hams treated in any degree with boric acid would be admitted by the Customs authorities; what action had been taken or would be taken with regard to the consignment of bacon which was not condemned, although previously reported to be so by His Majesty's Consul at Buenos Ayres, and of which the firm could get no account; and would the Foreign Office take some steps to safeguard this important Irish trade in the future?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir Edward Grey)I am aware that Messrs. W. J. Shaw and 467 Sons deny that boric acid was used in curing their hams. Had a request for official assistance been made in time, we should have been glad to render all the help in our power. Our Minister at Buenos Ayres would have requested that the hams should be submitted to a second analysis, and I have no doubt that the Argentine authorities would have agreed to this, as they have done in other cases. In this instance, however, the request for official assistance was not received until 30th November, when it was too late, an attempt having been made by the consignees to reintroduce the condemned hams into another Argentine port, and the hams having been destroyed. As regards the bacon, which constituted the principal part of the consignment, our information is that it had not been condemned, and I do not see what ground there can be for official intervention. I have no means of knowing how it was disposed of; that information, it seems to me, can be obtained only by Messrs. Shaw from their consignees. If any information is given me to show that the bacon has not been fairly treated by the Customs authorities, I will give what assistance is possible.
§ Sir E. GREYCertainly, we will do that; we would have taken steps in this case if the request had been made in time.
§ Sir E. GREYI gather that there was some want of correspondence between Messrs. Shaw and the consignees, and we could not do anything as we had not the information.