§ 88. Mr. GEORGE GREENWOODasked when the Board proposes to issue an Order for protecting live poultry from unnecessary suffering while being conveyed by land or water, and in connection with their exposure for sale and their disposal after sale, under the provisions of the Poultry Act, 1911; and whether, in view of the fact that this Act came into force on the 18th August, 1911, the President of the Board of Agriculture will undertake that such Order shall be issued without further delay?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe subject is one which is attended with considerable practical difficulty, and I have been anxious before issuing any Order to obtain full information as to the conditions under which the trade is carried on. The inquiries which I have instituted are, however, now practically complete.
§ 67. Mr. GREENWOODasked whether the right hon. Gentleman's attention has been called to a recent case where, out of seventy-two ducks sent from Navan to Liverpool on the 26th October last, thirty- I four were found to be dead on arrival 1294 from being overcrowded in crates, for which offence the consignor, who was prosecuted by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was fined by the magistrates the sum of £1; and whether the Board will forthwith issue an Order under the Poultry Act, 1911, which will prevent such practices?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI have made inquiries, and I understand that the facts of the case, to which my attention was first called by my hon. Friend's question, are as stated, except that the defendant was ordered to pay costs amounting to £1, in addition to the fine. With regard to the last part of the question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I have just given to his previous question.