§ Mr. AUGUSTINE ROCHEasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention had been called to the injury inflicted upon the shippers of pigs in Dundalk owing to the restrictions imposed upon them by the Swine Fever Order of 1906, which prohibits the export of swine unless they have been kept on the premises of the shippers for a period of at least twenty-eight days before shipment; if he is aware that the trade in swine has been injured by this restriction; and whether, having regard to the fact that no swine fever exists either in Dundalk or in the county of Louth, he will consider the necessity of having these restrictions removed?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe order referred to, which was issued by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for Great Britain, governs the landing in that country of store swine from any part of Ireland. No special complaint as to injury caused by the order to exportation from Dundalk has come to notice recently. 7,016 store swine were shipped from that port under the order in 1910. This figure was only once exceeded in the past ten years. An outbreak of swine fever occurred in Dundalk in December last. There is no reason to suppose that the Board would be prepared as yet to modify the order.