§ Mr. H. Hyndasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will give the names of the firms to whom licences were issued by his Department enabling them to import tortoises into this country during the past 12 months; and whether he has any information as to the extent to which such permission was used by these firms to import tortoises between 1st September last year and the present date.
§ Mr. BottomleySixty-nine licences were issued for the import of tortoises during the period from 1st April to 31st July, 1950, but I regret that, in accordance with normal practice, I am not prepared to publish the names of the firms to whom such licences were issued. On 1st August, 1950, an open general licence was issued which allowed the import of live animals, including birds, fish and insects (with the exclusion of bees) from a large number of countries to which the policy of relaxation of import restrictions has been applied. Since that date, therefore, it has been possible to import tortoises from those countries without separate import licences. The answer to the second part of the Question is in the negative.