§ Mr. Shortasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will make a statement respecting the progress of foot-and-mouth disease?
§ Mr. W. S. MorrisonSince my last statement in the House as to the foot-and-mouth disease position on the 11th November, 1937, additional farms have been declared infected, but in the great majority of these cases infection was due to contiguity to existing outbreaks. There has on the whole been an improvement. Excluding an isolated outbreak in Essex confirmed on the 22nd January, and one in Kent on the 14th January, there have been no outbreaks for three weeks in any of the eastern or south-eastern counties to which, as will be remembered, it was necessary to apply a "Standstill" Order on the 9th November. Of a total of 36 outbreaks confirmed during the past 14 days, 33 were in the adjoining counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Berkshire and Hampshire, the remaining three outbreaks being in Essex and the West Riding.