254 Council of Agriculture for England. [June, 



to Mr. Smith and Mr. Edwards to come as his guests to one 

 part of England which would be turned into desolation if Cana- 

 dian cattle were admitted. He was also prepared to go down to 

 Norwich and prove to the people of Norfolk that it was in the 

 national interest that the embargo should b; 1 kept on. 



The motion was then put to the Council and passed by a vote 

 of 60 against 11. 



Milk and Dairies Act, 1915.— The Right Hon. Lord Strachie 

 moved : — 



" That in the opinion of this Council it is undesirable to amend or 

 repeal the Milk and Dairies Act, 1915, before it is put into operation." 



In moving this resolution, Lord Strachie said he thought the safeguards in 

 the Act had been completely misunderstood. The National Farmers' Union 

 were proposing alternative legislation dealing with several complicated points 

 and it put forward no suggestions for similar safeguards. The Act of U>15 

 was a compromise and, like other compromises of the kind, would probably 

 work satisfactorily. It was laid down in the Act that no Order should be 

 issued by the Minister of Health except with the concurrence of the Minister 

 of Agriculture, and also that Orders could not come into force until they had 

 been Laid on the tables of both Houses of Parliament for forty days, during 

 which time objection could be taken to them. The Central Chamber of 

 Agriculture, the Bath and West Council and also the Central Landowners' 

 Association had approved the cou:se proposed in the motion. 



Mr. II. C. Gardner (Wore;*.) seconded the motion and Lord Norihbrooh 

 and Lord Bledisloe spoke in favour of it. Mr. J. Donaldson (Oxford) opposed 

 on the ground that the proposals which were now in contemplation at the 

 Ministry of Health were more in accordance with our present requirements. 

 Mr. George Dallas considered that the interests of the community were for 

 a pure milk supply, and that the Council ought not to attempt in any way to 

 interfere with regulations which would help to produce such a supply. 

 Mr. German agreed with Mr. Dallas. He thought that it was also necessary 

 to provide a sufficient quantity of milk so that no child should be in want of 

 it. The British farmer is prepared to put pure milk on the market, but the 

 milk as it reaches the consumer is not as produced by the farmer. He 

 thought it was the wrong time to bring up regulations which involve super- 

 vision of a number of points, such as cleaning udders, washing hands, scalding- 

 buckets, etc., and he therefore opposed the resolution. 



Sir Daniel Hall, who was appointed to speak on behalf of the Ministry in 

 the matter, said that the estimates of the cost of the Act of 1915 were such as 

 to put the possibility of working it at the present time out of the question. 

 The Ministry of Health would need £700,000 per annum for the Act, and the 

 Tuberculosis Order, , which the Ministry were to operate side by side with 

 the Act, would cost another £75,000 per annum. In these circumstances, 

 another Bill had been prepared by the Ministry of Health, who had consulted 

 the Ministry of Agriculture upon it, and it was the Minister's intention within 

 tiie course of a week to ask the advice of the Agricultural Advisory Com- 

 mittee on the new proposals. 



