HL Deb 02 April 1958 vol 208 cc629-30

2.43 p.m.

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD (EARL ST. ALDWYN) rose to move, That the Tuberculosis (Extension of Payments Period) Order, 1958, be approved. The noble Earl said: My Lords, Section 3 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1950, enables the Minister of Agriculture to make payments to cattle owners for eradicating tuberculosis from their herds. The current scheme made under these provisions is the Tuberculosis (Attested Herds) Scheme, 1950. This provides for paying bonuses to owners of attested herds either on the basis of milk sales or on a capitation basis. The power to make these payments ends on September 30, 1958, but the Act provides that it may be extended not more than three times for periods of five years each time. The draft Order now before your Lordships is purely a machinery order which allows the scheme to be extended until the 30th September, 1963.

I think your Lordships are familiar with the details of the Attested Herds Scheme, and of the plan for the eradication of the disease by areas. We have made great progress under these arrangements. In 1950 the percentage of attested cattle was under 20 per cent. of the total; by the end of last year it was nearly 80 per cent. About 50 per cent. of the herds in the country are already included in the attested areas which are being extended annually. On March 1 this year the last series of areas were offered free testing and will become eradication areas in March, 1960. If all goes well there is every reason to hope that by 1960 or 1961 the whole of Great Britain, will be an attested area and that bovine tuberculosis will in this country for all practical purposes be a thing of the past.

I think the House will agree that this is one of the great success stories of agriculture, and I have no hesitation in asking your Lordships to approve this Order which makes the necessary extension to the arrangements for paying for tuberculosis eradication. My Lords, I beg to move.

Moved, That the Tuberculosis (Extension of Payments Period) Order, 1958, be approved.—(Earl St. Aldwyn)

On Question, Motion agreed to.