§ 102. Lieut.-Colonel Bromley-Davenportasked the Minister of Food whether he is aware of the long unnecessary journeys for cattle involved by the present grading scheme; that dealers who are registered 156W at Burton-on-Trent can go as far afield as Norwich and Gloucester to buy cattle, which have then to be sent to Burton to be graded before being returned to Norwich or Gloucester to be slaughtered; and whether he will revise the present scheme with a view to eliminating these expensive journeys and unnecessary cruelty to animals.
§ Mr. StracheyAll producers of fat cattle for slaughter are required to offer them for purchase by the Ministry of Food at a collecting centre near their premises. This arrangement does not involve unnecessary journeys or cruelty to the cattle. Dealers sometimes offer cattle which they have bought in other parts of the country, but it would be impossible to stop this without interfering with the legitimate trade in store cattle. Some of the cattle taken over by the Ministry at Burton-on-Trent are occasionally sent to Norwich for slaughter in order to balance supply and demand. None are sent by my Department from Burton-on-Trent to Gloucester.