§ 2.55 p.m.
THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD (LORD ST. OSWALD)My Lords, I beg to move that this Order, a copy of which was laid before this House on April 23, be approved. For the convenience of the House, I suggest that this Order and the similar one relating to Scotland be taken together. Section 3 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1950, empowers the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in accordance with a scheme made by him and approved by the Treasury, to make payments to owners of cattle in return for their eradicating tuberculosis from their herds. The current Scheme, made under that provision, is the Tuberculosis (Attested Herds) Scheme, 1958. There is a similar Scheme made by the Secretary of State and applying to Scotland. These Schemes provide for the payment of bonuses to owners of attested herds either on the basis of milk sales or upon the number of animals in the herds.
The power to make these payments ends on September 30 of this year but the Act provides that it may be extended for five years on not more than three successive occasions so as to continue for five, ten or fifteen years, as the case may be, from September 30, 1958. This power to extend the period is now being sought for the second and, as things have worked out, the last time in the present draft Order, which provides that the period shall be extended for the five years from October 1, 1963, to September 30, 1968. But as no herds have entered the Attested Herds Schemes since 1959 in Scotland and Wales and since 1960 in England, final payments of bonus will be made in 1966–67, well before this Order expires
555 It is a matter for great statisfaction, which I hope the House will share, that the work of clearing tuberculosis from the national herd has progressed so well that it will not be necessary to seek a further extension of the period of payment. The fact that the Attested Herds Schemes will have run their course in less time than Parliament provided for in the Act reflects the energy with which the problem of tuberculosis was tackled by the farming community and the veterinary profession, both in private practice and in Government service. It is true that by 1950, earlier Attested Herds Schemes had resulted in one-fifth of the cattle population being brought up to attested standard, but at that time a formidable task still remained. To be able to declare the whole of Great Britain an attested area by 1960 was a remarkable achievement. Freedom from the disease was not, of course, purchased cheaply, and since 1935, when the first Attested Herds Schemes were introduced, until the end of the present schemes, it is estimated that farmers will have received about £115,000,000 in bonus payments. This is an investment in both human health and in the health of our livestock, and it is, therefore, of direct benefit to the national economy. It is an investment which we are determined to protect, and that is why it is necessary for us to go on check-testing all cattle at regular intervals and to remove immediately any reactors discovered. For these reasons, I hope that the House will approve the Order.
§ Moved, That the Tuberculosis (Extension of Payments Period) Order 1963, be approved.—(Lord St. Oswald.)
§ LORD WISEMy Lords, I am very happy on this occasion to agree entirely with the noble Lord. I appreciate the compliment which he has paid to the British farming community and to the veterinary surgeons of the country. This is a simple Order in comparison with the one he moved yesterday, and it is an Order which I think the whole House can approve and be well satisfied with. It is interesting to hear that, though the Order is to be extended to 1968, it will not be necessary to implement it up to that date. I am sure that everyone appreciates the good work that has been done in freeing the cattle of this country from this disease.
§ LORD WALSTONMy Lords, may I add just a word in support of my noble friend Lord Wise? This is an occasion when one can say that this satisfactory state of affairs is due to a large extent to what the Government have done. Of course, the farmers have played a large part, which I should be the last to deny, as has also the veterinary profession, and perhaps at this stage a special tribute should be paid to the Ministry's veterinary staff, particularly to Sir John Ritchie, who has been head of the veterinary department throughout the course of this scheme. It is a great cause for satisfaction that in such a comparatively short space of time we should have become, I think that I am right in saying, the only country in the world, with the possible exception of some Scandinavian countries, now entirely free of bovine tuberculosis in its cattle. As the noble Lord has said, it is a matter for congratulation and benefit not only to the agricultural industry, but also to the national health. It gives me great pleasure to associate myself with what my noble friend Lord Wise has said.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, perhaps I may say one word about the human aspect of this. Other countries, and particularly Western countries, are doing a great deal in this field, but I think it should be put on record that, as a result of the clean milk policy of this country, which includes the pasteurisation schemes as well as tuberculin-testing (and I would remind my noble friend that it was a Labour Government which introduced the Clean Milk Bill in 1950), orthopædic hospitals in this country, which 25 years ago were full of small children suffering from bovine tuberculosis, are now closed. Indeed, so many of these children's hospitals throughout the country, where originally the majority of the cases were attributable to infected milk, are empty that it is now possible for local authorities and regional councils to ask themselves how they will use these empty buildings. I think that is a tremendous achievement, and it would be a good thing if the noble Lord could bring this to the attention of the whole country. Unfortunately, chastity has no gossip value, and chastity has no newspaper value. If the children were infected, then there would be headlines—
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLYes. There are two ways of interpreting chastity, but perhaps the noble Lord knows only one. It would be delightful if the whole country recognised the great progress which had been made in this field.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I should like to say a word of congratulation from these Benches to all concerned, and particularly to the veterinary profession, which I believe has played a yeoman part in this remarkable achievement. I should like to ask the noble Lord one question in regard to Irish cattle. When I was a boy we had large numbers of Irish cattle come into this country, and particularly to Wales, and they were a great asset to the farming community. When I was in the West of Ireland a few years ago I found that they were in great trouble there, because they had not put into force the particular tests that we had with regard to tuberculosis, and for this reason many of their cattle were not admitted to this country. As a result, great hardship was caused to the farmers in Western Ireland on this score. Considerable steps were being taken by the farming community there, under the leadership of a Colonel Blood, who is, I gather, a descendant of the gentleman who tried to steal the Crown Jewels in the reign of Charles II but, fortunately, failed. But this particular Colonel Blood was having more success in his field than his ancestor had, and he was doing a great deal in regard to the marketing of cattle, clean milk and tubercular free herds. I wonder if the noble Lord could give any indication of the effect of all this on the Irish cattle trade to this country.
§ LORD KILBRACKENMy Lords, since my noble friend has raised the point, and since I am farming in Ireland and have an accredited herd there, perhaps I might inform the House that the position now is that tuberculosis has been eradicated from 20 of the 26 counties which are an accredited area. Only cattle from those counties which include 558 the whole Western area, to which he referred, are now coming into this country.
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, I should like to thank all noble Lords who have given their approval, encouragement and support to this Order. I am particularly grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Walston, for his words about the Animal Health Division of my Ministry. The suggestion of the noble Baroness, Lady Summerskill, will of course be examined with the great care that we always give to her suggestions. I can tell the noble Lord who asked about Irish cattle that all Irish store cattle imported to Great Britain are, as his noble friend said, attested, and all Midland and Western counties of Eire are now attested areas.
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, as the noble Lord knows, Charollais cattle have been imported from France only under special licence. So far, there is no other legal method of importing them, except under special Ministry of Agriculture licence; and naturally these have to be passed from an animal health point of view.