§ Mr. Randallasked the Lord President of the Council what is the amount now being spent on research for prevention of mastitis; and what progress has so far been recorded.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonResearch on Mastitis is being actively pursued at nearly all the State-aided Institutions concerned with the 39W study of animal diseases or dairy research, as a part of their normal programmes of work; but it is not possible to state what proportion of the maintenance grants made to these Institutions relates solely to research on this specific problem. Much assistance is also given by the Veterinary Investigational staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in field trials with therapeutic substances, specially penicillin. In addition, the Agricultural Research Council have made a number of special research grants to Institutions for the study of particular aspects of the 40W disease, amounting, during the current year, to £6,500. Other grants have been made in respect of more general bacteriological research having a bearing on this problem.
The whole of the Mastitis research, which is supported by State aid, is under the co-ordination of a special technical committee of the Agricultural Research Council set up for the purpose. A comprehensive report on the progress of the investigations, under the general oversight of this technical committee, is in course of preparation.