§ Sir H. CAUTLEYasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he call give the numbers of recorded cases of swine fever for the last complete year before and the last complete year after the coming into force of the present Swine Fever Order; and whether, in the opinion of himself and his scientific advisers, the results accomplished towards the stamping out of the disease are worth the large loss suffered by traders and farmers due to the dislocation of trade caused by the requirement of isolation for 27 days?
Mr. GUINNESSThe numbers of outbreaks of swine fever during the year 1921 before the issue of the Regulation of Movement of Swine Order, 1922, and for the year 1927, which is the last complete year since that Order, were 1,285 and 1,794 respectively. I would point out, however, that the incidence of the disease fluctuates considerably, and a truer picture is obtained by a comparison of the average annual number of outbreaks per 1,000 of the pig population for the 14 years while the more onerous restrictions of the 1908 Order were in operation and for the five years since 1922. These figures are 1.05 and 56 respectively. The Order of 1922 was designed to prevent infected swine spreading disease from market to market and to cause the minimum inconvenience to the industry. I am satisfied that the Order has had this effect, and I may add that I have received no evidence from any representative agricultural organisation of dislocation of trade on the grounds mentioned by my hon. and learned Friend.