§ 3.20 p.m.
LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTONMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty Government what action they intend to take over the widespread sale of sub-standard eggs and the malnutrition of poultry which is the cause of these eggs being produced.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, there is no evidence that sub-standard eggs are on widespread sale in this country, nor that poultry here are suffering from malnutrition.
LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTONMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend 1196 for what I must say was an extraordinarily surprising reply—it leaves me almost speechless—may I ask whether he would agree that if he were shut up in a cage and carried into your Lordships' House on particular occasions to give Answers to Parliamentary Questions his customary excellent standard at the Despatch Box would be slightly less good than it is now? Would my noble friend extend some sympathy to the unfortunate hens who are in the same position as he would be if we treated him in that way?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, my noble friend has a vivid imagination. I have never thought of myself as being a hen, and I do not see that has very much bearing on a Question regarding substandard eggs.
LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTONMy Lords, would my noble friend agree that though he is very unlike a hen the fact is that if a hen is properly treated and fed, which is not happening on many farms, the hen will produce a good egg? My noble friend is properly treated and fed so he produces good Answers.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, I take my noble friend's point, which is that he is concerned that the hens are not properly looked after; but I would remind him that there are codes of practice to which farmers are obliged to adhere. A survey by veterinary staff of some 1,400 poultry units in 1970 showed that welfare conditions were generally satisfactory and there was no evidence of unnecessary pain or distress among the hens in the units that were visited.
§ LORD SOMERSMy Lords, has the noble Earl ever tasted a battery egg? If he has not, will he give the House an assurance that he will do so at the earliest opportunity?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, I have tasted a battery egg and I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Somers, that one of the advantages of this type of production is that it produces eggs for people to buy in sufficiently large quantities, and if it were not for this rate of production there would be far fewer eggs than there are now.
LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTONMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that I am asking a serious question and I have myself produced eggs?
§ SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS: Oh!
LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTONMy Lords, having said that, is my noble friend aware that hens need grit, and that the feed merchants are at present producing meal in which they say there is grit? They are advising poultry producers not to give the hens extra grit because they say that there is grit in the meal. Is my noble friend aware that, in spite of all this, there is not enough grit in this meal and that in consequence, in my experience, 50 per cent. of eggs break when they are being boiled?
§ LORD SHEPHERDQuestion!
LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTONI am sorry, my Lords. I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Shepherd, who does not like my going on about this. But is it not time that a higher standard is insisted upon for the production of eggs, because people who live in towns cannot buy decent eggs nowadays?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, I can assure my noble friend that the quality of poultry feed has never been better than it is at the moment. There is no evidence of which I am aware that the point which my noble friend made is correct or substantiated. If he has any evidence which he cares to bring to my attention I will certainly look at it.
§ LORD ALLERTONMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend to tell us for the guidance of the House, what exactly is a "sub-standard" egg?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, my noble friend has asked a very pertinent question, because eggs are graded by weight and then they are graded by quality; and there is no such egg as one called a sub-standard egg.
§ LORD GLADWYNMy Lords, is an egg which cracks when it boils—which applies to the greater part of eggs one uses—a sub-standard egg or is it not a sub-standard egg?