§ Mr. Bossomasked the Minister of Food (1) whether in anticipation of further outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Kent, he will provide emergency slaughterhouses with storage and drying-out facilities ready to be put into operation when needed;
(2) whether in view of the efforts that have been made by farmers to increase pig production, he will provide additional slaughterhouses and storage capacity in Kent, so that they are adequate to deal with the larger numbers of pigs to be slaughtered.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeA new slaughterhouse is being built at Canterbury. This will shortly come into operation and will provide substantially increased slaughtering capacity for Kent. My Department, in conjunction with the National Farmers' Union, is examining a scheme for bringing into use some existing unused slaughterhouses in the event of further outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.
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§ Mr. Bossomasked the Minister of Food whether he is satisfied that there will be sufficient available slaughterhouses in Kent to provide continued employment for wholetime slaughtermen.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeThe employment of slaughtermen is seasonal. The position in Kent will be broadly the same as that in other parts of the country.