§ 62. Mr. MAURICE HEALYasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he has received representations from county Cork with reference to the effect of the recent Regulations on the trade in lambs from Ireland to Great Britain, the number exported this year being only 1,600 up to the 1st May, whereas in other years this number would not much more than represent the figures from one fair, and the figures from all Ireland by that date would normally be 16,000; whether the price of Irish lambs in Great Britain has also been seriously affected, being this year 1d. per pound less than the price of English lambs, whereas in previous years Irish lambs fetched 1d. per pound higher than English lambs; whether this result is produced by the Regulations under which unweaned lambs, though intended for immediate slaughter, are separated from their dams, forcibly fed with green food, and kept under detention for twelve hours; and whether, in view of the injury resulting to the Irish lamb trade, the Regulations referred to will be modified?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI fear that the hon. and learned Gentleman has been given inaccurate information, for there is hardly a word of truth in any of the statements quoted in the question. The number of Irish lambs imported into Great Britain during the month of April in a normal year, according to the average of the last three years, is not 16,000, but 2,430; the number imported in the same period this year was not 1,600, but 1,907; Irish lambs have this year fetched the highest prices in the markets; they have been well fed, without force of any kind, during their detention at the landing places, and the majority of those weighed have actually gained weight. The slowness with which the Irish lamb trade has opened this year is due, not to the Regulations of the Board, but to inaccurate and alarming statements disseminated throughout Ireland by persons who cannot have taken the trouble to ascertain the true facts.