§ Mr. MILLARasked the Minister of Agriculture whether potato disease is known to exist in France, Spain, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and in Algeria, from which countries potatoes are being exported to Great Britain; and whether he is prepared to prohibit the importation of foreign potatoes from all countries where potato disease exists and also where foot-and-mouth disease is known to exist, owing to the danger of this latter disease being carried to this country by infected potato bags?
§ Mr. N. BUXTONThe entry of foreign potatoes into this country is already pro-914W hibited from that part of France where the Colorado beetle exists. Potato moth exists in Spain, Algeria and the Canary Islands, and potatoes imported therefrom must be accompanied by a health certificate and are subject to inspection at the ports. The strictest measures are taken to guard against the introduction of any pests or disease of a harmful nature not at present found in this country. So far as foot-and-mouth disease is concerned, careful inquiries have furnished no evidence that imported potatoes, or the sacks in which they are packed, have been a source of infection. There would, in these circumstances, be no justification for the use of my powers under the Destructive Insects and Pests Acts and the Diseases of Animals Acts for the purpose of imposing what would in effect be a general embargo on foreign potatoes.