§ 74. Mr. C. BATHURSTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether, seeing that 2,516 outbreaks of swine fever were confirmed in Great Britain during the first ten months of this year, and that the amount paid for animals slaughtered was £63,350, showing no diminution in the prevalence of the disease or in the public burden involved in its attempted suppression such as to justify the policy embodied in the Swine Fever Orders of 1908, he will consider the advisability of modifying such policy in the direction of making it less harassing to pig owners and less costly to the public?
§ Mr. LEWISMy right hon. Friend recognises with regret that the operations of the Board' against swine fever have not been attended with anything like the success which was anticipated when they were originally undertaken; but, before making any change in the general policy of the Board in the matter, he thinks it desirable to await the completion of the investigations which are being made at the instance of the Departmental Committee over which the hon. Member for the Rye Division presides. The Committee have not yet presented their final Report, and my right hon. Friend proposes to ask them, before doing so, to review the whole question in the light of the further experience gained since their interim Report was issued.