§ Mr. A. HERBERTasked the Minister of Agriculture what are the latest figures of the importation of Irish store cattle; and how they compare with the figures of 1913?
Sir A. BOSCAWENThe weekly returns issued by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland show that the total number of store cattle (including heifers for breeding and bulls for breeding) exported from Ireland to Great Britain this year to the 24th of June inclusive was 160,000. Exactly comparable figures are not available for 1913, but the number for the same period in that year was approximately 350,000. I should add that the number in 1913 was the highest recorded, the number in the previous twelve months having been only 168,000. The importation during the present year has been much hampered by the restrictions necessarily imposed owing to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease.