§ Mr. COOPERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any communication has been received from Argentina stating that the herds of that country are free from foot-and-mouth disease; and whether any application has been made for the admission of cattle for immediate slaughter from that country?
§ Sir EDWARD STRACHEYMy right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. The answer to the first part is in the affirmative. An application was received in April last asking that cattle might be imported for slaughter into this country, provided they came from unaffected districts in Argentina, with regard to which communications are proceeding with the Argentine Government.
§ Mr. COOPERasked the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether any outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in this country has been traced to cattle imported for immediate slaughter at either the Deptford or Birkenhead foreign cattle markets?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYThere is no direct evidence of any such case, but in the opinion of the chief veterinary officer to the Privy Council the outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease which occurred in London, Bedfordshire and Kent in 1880, were traceable to foreign cattle landed at Deptford, and it was suspected that the outbreak at Rhyl in 1900 was connected with the landing at Birkenhead of animals from Argentina.
§ Mr. COOPERasked the hon. Member for South Somerset whether his attention has been directed to the decrease in the number of cattle imported from North America into this country for immediate slaughter, and also the increase in price of North American beef; and whether, as the cattle of Argentina are officially declared to be free from disease, he will consider the advisability of allowing the importation of cattle for immediate slaughter from that country?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYThe reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The freedom of a country from disease at any particular moment is only one of the factors to which the Board are bound to have regard in deciding whether or not cattle should be allowed to be imported194W for slaughter, and until all the various requirements of the Diseases of Animals Acts are satisfied it is not possible for the Board to adopt the course suggested, and we are awaiting certain information on the subject which the Argentine Government have been asked to be good enough to furnish.