HC Deb 27 October 1954 vol 531 cc283-4W
Mr. Hector Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the incidence of the disease of myxomatosis among rabbits in the counties of Aberdeen and Kincardine, indicating its reactions upon the food-producing and life-stock potentialities of those two counties, in particular, and of Scotland in general.

Mr. J. Stuart

Myxomatosis is known to have broken out amongst rabbits in 33 areas in Aberdeenshire and nine in Kincardineshire, covering in all some 4,250 acres of land, but the disease is probably more widely spread than these figures suggest. It is too early to assess what effect the disease may have on the food-producing capacity of the two counties, or of Scotland as a whole, but increased production of both crops and livestock may reasonably be expected.