§ Mr. Bossomasked the Minister of Food how many slaughterhouses at present exist in this country; the average length of the journey that cattle have to make to reach them; and how many of these slaughterhouses have to be used for the slaughter of more animals than they were intended to take.
§ Mr. StracheyMy Department is using 606 slaughterhouses in Great Britain. I regret that information is not available as to the average length of the journeys that cattle have to make to reach them but there is no doubt that under control the transport of fatstock has been very considerably reduced as compared with prewar. Four hundred and one of the slaughterhouses are privately owned and these include a large number of small premises as well as some commodious and up-to-date slaughterhouses. It is probably true to say that some of the privately owned slaughterhouses are now being used for the slaughter of larger numbers of stock than when they served the limited purposes of the private owner only