DISEASES OF ANIMALS BILL. (Hansard, 30 July 1925)

§ THE PARLIAMENTARYSECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (LORD BLEDISLOE)

My Lords, this Bill comes to us from the House of Commons certified as a Money Bill. It adumbrates the coming into force of the Milk and Dairies (Consolidation) Act, 1915, which was passed during the War and has been held in suspense for the last ten years. That Act prohibits the sale of tuberculous milk and, therefore, indirectly compels the slaughter of tuberculous cattle. To enable such slaughter to take place the Tuberculosis Order of 1914, which was similarly suspended owing to the War, is about to be revived, with some modifications, at the same date as that on which the Milk and Dairies (Consolidation) Act is brought into operation, that is, on September 1, under the new title of the Tuberculosis Order, 1925.

The Bill that I am now submitting for your Lordships' consideration gives power to the Treasury to refund to the local authorities seventy-five per cent, of the compensation which will become payable to stock owners under the Tuberculosis Order. I think your Lordships ought to know—and it will interest those who are stock owners—that one-quarter of the total value of animals condemned for tuberculosis will, in the case of animals that are found to be in an advanced stage of the disease, be paid to their owners as compensation upon slaughter, while three-quarters will be paid if the animals are not in an advanced stage of the disease. It is estimated that the total gross compensation will amount to something like £67,500 a year, and of this no less than £50,000 will come out of the Exchequer. The local authorities will bear the whole cost of administration, but this cost will be offset to some extent by the proceeds of the salvage of carcases, which the local authorities will keep for themselves.

In this connection I think I ought to tell your Lordships, and particularly those 627 who sit on the Front Opposition Bench, that, in deference to an appeal which was made by Mr. Alexander, one of the representatives of the Labour Party in another place, the Minister has decided to issue a supplementary Order to the effect that no animal which is killed under the original Order shall be used for human food unless its flesh has been found to be sound and fit for human consumption by the medical officer of health. That supplementary Order has been agreed between the Minister of Agriculture and the Scottish Office and will very shortly be issued as supplementary to the original Order. I ought, perhaps, also to mention, as being of prime importance so far as this main Order is concerned, that in future all animals that are found to have tuberculous udders, to be emaciated with tuberculosis, to be suffering from chronic cough and showing definite clinical signs of tuberculosis, will have to be slaughtered after notification to the police, as the officials of the local authority. I do not think that it is necessary for me to say any more in relation to this Bill except to mention the important fact that the Order has special reference to animals imported in a tuberculous condition from other countries, including Ireland. These will be excluded under the Bill from the operation of the Order, so that no compensation will be paid for imported animals found to be in a tuberculous condition. I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.