LORD THURLOW,in rising to ask Her Majesty's Government, Whether it is true that an outbreak of "trichinosis" occurred in January last on board the reformatory school ship "Cornwall" lying off Purfleet on the Thames; and if so, how many cases occurred, and. what number have terminated fatally: Further, whether the outbreak has been traced to the use of American or other foreign pork; and, in that case, what precautions, if any, have been taken by Her Majesty's Government to guard against the very serious dangers to which the public are exposed by the importation from abroad of pork infected with this disease? said, the question was one of fact, and was one of equal importance to producers and consumers of meat. It was also one on which much anxiety prevailed. If, therefore, this reported outbreak of trichinosis had occurred, he trusted it might be in the power of Her Majesty's Government to state that they had taken proper and adequate precautions to protect the public, and especially the poorest classes of the public, who were most exposed, from a serious 904 danger from which they were practically unable to protect themselves. Last year, when a Question on this subject was asked by the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Belmore) the noble Duke the Lord President of the Council replied that cooking afforded a sufficient safeguard; but it was to be feared that was not so, as a higher temperature, and a longer duration of high temperature, were required to kill the trichins than were sufficient for many ordinary culinary purposes. This had, he believed, been amply proved by experiments in Germany and America.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPsaid, he was not surprised that the noble Lord had called attention to this subject; but all the information he was able to give in the matter was that the Local Government Board had, at the request of the Home Secretary, instituted an inquiry. That inquiry had not as yet terminated, or at least the Report of it had not been delivered. He was unable, therefore, to say more than that the attention of Her Majesty's Government had been directed to the subject. If the noble Lord would repeat his Question later on, he would be happy to afford any information on this subject that it might be then in his power to give.