§ 1. Mr. Peartasked the Minister of Food the estimated number of slaughterhouses required to meet the marketing policy contained in Command Paper No. 8989.
15. Commander Maitlandasked the Minister of Food his policy in regard to the future numbers and location of slaughterhouses; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Minister of Food (Major Lloyd George)I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Rugby (Mr. J. Johnson) on 25th November and my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Mr. Peyton) on 2nd December.
§ Mr. PeartI am aware of the reply which the Minister gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby, but is he aware that if the marketing policy of the Government is to be implemented there will have to be a rapid increase in the number of slaughterhouses? Will he consider sympathetically the claims of West Cumberland when representatives meet him this week on the matter?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeThe hon. Gentleman will realise that there are two distinct problems. The first is the moderate concentration policy which will obviously take some years to fulfil. Then there is 1944 the immediate policy as a result of decontrol. All the organisations concerned, including the one mentioned by the hon. Gentleman, are being consulted.
Commander MaitlandCan my right hon. and gallant Friend say whether he is taking any special steps to assist the National Farmers' Union in their voluntary marketing policy?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI will look into that.
§ Mr. J. JohnsonWill the Minister also consider sympathetically the claims of Rugby, where we have a first-class site and where, as he knows from his officials, we have first-class plans for a future abattoir?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI think the Questions I have answered already indicate that this is a task which cannot be accomplished quite so quickly as hon. Members think.
§ Mr. PeytonCan my right hon. and gallant Friend say when the Report of the Departmental Committee is expected?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI hope to get it very soon. I cannot say any more.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI hope in a very few weeks.
§ 9. Commander Purseyasked the Minister of Food the number and weekly capacity of the slaughterhouses in Hull in 1939 and today; and the number of population at present served.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI am informed by the local authority that in 1938, the last complete year for which they have records, there were 42 slaughterhouses in use and that the total average weekly killings in these premises in that year were 325 cattle, 980 sheep and 600 pigs. My Department is using three of these slaughterhouses which have a weekly maximum capacity of 450 cattle, 900 sheep and 140 pigs. The area served has a population of 340,000.
§ 10. Commander Purseyasked the Minister of Food the number of slaughter houses in Hull destroyed by enemy action from 1939 to 1945 and closed down as unsuitable since 1939, respectively; and 1945 how many of the unsuitable premises are to be reopened in order to provide sufficient facilities for the third port in the country.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeAccording to the local authority, of the 42 slaughterhouses in use before the war, 13 were destroyed. My Department is using three. I cannot say how many of the remainder are suitable for re-opening as this and other questions are being discussed at this moment with all the national interests concerned. I hope to have a report on the interim position before long.
§ Commander PurseyDoes the Minister intend that cattle for Hull should be sent 30 miles away to be slaughtered and then carried back the 30 miles to Hull after slaughter in order to give him another two years in which to consider whether Hull is to have a slaughterhouse or not?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeNo. That is the purpose of the inquiry which has been going on.
§ 11. Commander Purseyasked the Minister of Food how long the question of a new central abattoir for Hull and district has been under consideration by his Department; whether the new site is to be acquired by private agreement or compulsory purchase; and, in view of the decontrol of food and marketing of agricultural produce, what are the dates on which approval to build will be given and on which it is intended that the abattoir is likely to be in use.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeThe proposal of the local authority to build a slaughterhouse in Hull was notified to my Department in 1949, but no action on it is possible until it is known whether the final approved plan for a moderate concentration of slaughterhouses throughout the country will provide for the siting of a slaughterhouse in Hull.
§ Commander PurseyAs the Government claim that money, labour and materials are available in Hull for private houses, why cannot some of that money, labour and materials be used instead to build a slaughterhouse for the whole of the community so that next year there can be satisfactory slaughtering arrangements in the third port in the country?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeThe hon. and gallant Gentleman will appreciate that it is a question of siting.
§ Commander PurseyWe have got the site.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeIt is a question as to where the site should be. Representations from all the people concerned have to be taken into account, and that is the purpose of the inquiry.
§ 14. Mr. Deedesasked the Minister of Food whether, in the light of the Government White Paper, Command Paper No. 8989, he will accelerate the work of the committee considering the allocation and siting of abattoirs.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeThe committee are well aware of the urgency of the problems referred to them and of the need for an early report.
§ Mr. DeedesWhile I appreciate the difficulties of my right hon. and gallant Friend and also that the committee is bound to take a certain amount of time, will my right hon. and gallant Friend consider the possibility of substituting an interim plan whereby some marketing centres, like Ashford, which are concerned about the future, may commence planning for slaughterhouses and make provision for the siting of abattoirs?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI can tell my hon. Friend that the interim scheme is looked upon as a matter of urgency now.
§ Mr. UsborneOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Will you ask the Minister, when replying to Questions, to address himself to the House so that we can hear him. We have not been able to hear his answers recently.
§ Mr. SpeakerI can generally hear the right hon. and gallant Gentleman. Perhaps he will take the hon. Member's intervention to heart. Mr. Beswick: Further to that point of order. Is it not the case that no one in the House heard the list the Minister gave of foodstuffs whose prices have decreased?
§ Captain DuncanIs my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that the problem of slaughterhouses is just as urgent in Scotland as it is in England?
§ Mr. SpeakerThat does not arise on this Question.