52. Air Commodore Harveyasked the Minister of Agriculture what is the average time taken to settle claims in respect of the loss of poultry from fowl pest disease.
Mr. T. WilliamsOwing to the large number of outbreaks of fowl pest, the average time taken for the payment of74W compensation claims has until recently been about five weeks. The period has now been reduced to four weeks and I hope that it will be possible to reduce it still further.
§ 58. Mr. Haymanasked the Minister of Agriculture the average amount of compensation paid per bird destroyed in the most costly of the four recent outbreaks of fowl pest in Cornwall; and the national average cost to the latest convenient date.
Mr. T. WilliamsAgreement has not been reached with the owner about the amount of compensation payable in respect of birds slaughtered in the most costly outbreak in Cornwall and the matter has been referred to arbitration. The average compensation per bird slaughtered over the whole country is slightly less than 23s.
§ 59. Mr. Langford-Holtasked the Minister of Agriculture if he will give an estimate of the percentage of the total imports of poultry carcases which would be affected by a ban of imports from countries known to be affected by fowl pest.