§ LORD STRACHIE had the following Question on the Paper—
§ To ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will state upon what grounds he has issued an Order for admitting live stock for slaughter into the. United Kingdom from countries not known to be free from pleuro-pneumonia or foot-and-mouth disease.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, the noble Earl the President of the Board of Agriculture is unfortunately not able to be in his place this evening, nor will he be able, he informs me, to be here next week, but I understand that the noble Duke the Civil Lord of the Admiralty will reply to my Question. The reason why I am unable to put off the Question is that this Order comes into effect on Tuesday next, and I think it only right that the House should have some information as to the reasons which have led the Board of Agriculture to depart from what has been the very good rule in the past that unless it is absolutely known to the satisfaction of this country that pleuro-pneumonia or foot-and-mouth disease does not exist in any foreign country no animals from that country shall be allowed to be imported into the United Kingdom even for slaughter at the port of debarkation. In the Order to which I am calling attention it is startling to find that it is now proposed to allow cattle to be landed from such countries as Venezuela, Honduras, Brazil, and Abyssinia. It is true, as no doubt the noble Duke will point out to me, that there is to be a veterinary examination before shipment, and of course there will also have to be an assurance from the country from which the cattle are exported, but I venture to think it will be very difficult to obtain any 830 absolutely reliable or satisfactory veterinary examination in the case of Abyssinia or some of the other countries mentioned in the Second Schedule of this Order.
§ It is true that animals landed under the authority of this Order may only remain here for four days before they are slaughtered, but the noble Duke knows perfectly well that the danger of infection is not a question of four or five days, but may be a question of only a day or two in the case of pleuro-pneumonia or foot-and-mouth disease, and it has been only by the strictest regulations in the past in regard to importation that we have been able to keep this country free from these diseases. It will be remembered that only recently, owing to proper precautions not being taken in Ireland when there was a serious outbreak there, we got foot-and-mouth disease in this country. I need not point out what a serious state of things would arise if foot-and-mouth disease again became prevalent in the United Kingdom. Perhaps the noble Duke will be good enough to state the grounds on which it is proposed to allow cattle to come in wholesale from countries in which we cannot be certain there is not pleuro-pneumonia or foot-and-mouth disease. When I was at the Board of Agriculture it was taken as a certainty that at the present day it was much more economical to bring over cattle in the shape of dead meat. The noble Duke may say that under present shipping conditions it is much easier to bring them over alive. That may be so, and it may be a case of necessity knowing no law. But if we are to run some risk in this matter, I hope the noble Duke will be able to assure us that every precaution and care will be taken.
§ THE CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)My Lords, in the absence of the noble Earl the President of the Board of Agriculture I have been asked to reply to the noble Lord's Question. The ground for the issue of the Order to which the noble Lord has called attention is the desirability of increasing the supply of meat for the food of the people in this time of war. Full supplies of frozen and chilled meat to meet the country's requirements are not available for various reasons which will be easily understood, and it is believed that vessels carrying ordinary cargoes may find deck space for carrying live cattle which would not otherwise be 831 used, and which therefore may be open at such reduced rates of freightage as would make the importation of live cattle economically possible. All countries which would be at all likely to be able to supply cattle on the hoof in any considerable quantity have been named in a Schedule to the Order, and veterinary safeguards against the importation of disease are contained in the body of the Order. These safeguards are—
1. That all animals so imported for slaughter shall be accompanied by a veterinary certificate that the animal before being imported showed no symptoms of cattle plague, loot-and-month disease, pleuro-pneumonia, or sheep pox.2. The examination of each cargo by a veterinary inspector of the Board before it is allowed to be lauded. The veterinary inspector is also given full powers as to disinfection of the vessel or for the prevention of the spread of disease should it appear in an animal so imported.3. The keeping of a record of the health of the animal during the voyage by the master of the vessel.All animals landed under the authority of the Order are to be slaughtered within four days after landing, and they will in no circumstances be allowed to leave the Foreign Animals Wharf alive. The Order, being an Emergency Order, will remain in operation no longer than the period of the present war and three months thereafter. I can assure my noble friend that we are fully alive to the danger to which he has referred, and that the greatest possible precautions will be taken.