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Questions in Parliament. 



[Dec, 



Sectional volumes, any bound sets of leaflets, and miscellaneous publica- 

 tions, will be supplied in quantities of 20 and upwards to the above-mentioned 

 bodies (but not to private individuals) at 10 per cent, discount on the 

 published price. 



QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENT. 



Warble Fly. -Sir B. Stanier asked the Minister of Agriculture whether 

 he could give any information regarding the findings of the committee to 

 investigate the warble fly problem ; and whether they had found any new 

 preventative ? 



Sir Arthur G. Boscawen : The investigations of the committee appointed 

 to report on the warble fly are not yet completed, but I am advised that the 

 committee are very hopeful that an effective preventive against attacks of 

 this pest has been discovered. Experiments have recently been tried with a 

 wash composed of tobacco powder mixed with lime, and very encouraging- 

 results have been obtained. (October 20, 1921.) 



Unfit Horses (Export). Capt. W. Benn asked the Minister of 

 Agriculture whether the inspectors appointed to inspect horses about to be 

 exported can order unfit animals to be destroyed and enforce such orders? 



Sir Arthur G. Boscawen : Yes, Sir. Section 1 of the Exportation of Horses 

 Act, 1914, empowers the veterinary inspector to slaughter or cause to be 

 slaughtered, whether the owner consents to such slaughter or not, any horse 

 examined by him which he finds to be in such a physical condition that it is 

 cruel to keep it alive or which is permanently incapable of being worked 

 without suffering. The Act provides no appeal against the inspector's 

 decision, which can be duly enforced. (October 20, 1921.) 



In reply to a question by Sir J. Butcher, Major Barnston, on behalf of the. 

 Minister, stated that the measures which have been adopted by the Ministry 

 to raise the standard of fitness of horses exported to the Continent have 

 resulted in stopping the export trade in worn-out horses, and in restricting 

 the trade to horses which are fully fit to work. The high standard of fitness 

 now enforced has also resulted in the slaughter in this country of a much 

 larger proportion than formerly of horses which are intended for food on 

 the Continent. As a result of conferences which took place between the 

 Ministry and representatives of the Dutch and Belgian Governments during 

 the past summer, dressed carcasses of horses slaughtered in this country and 

 officially inspected will be accepted in Holland and Belgium. (October 

 25, 1921.) 



Railway Rates (Agricultural Produce.)— In reply to a question 

 by Mr. Koyce regarding railway rates for agricultural produce, the Parlia- 

 mentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport said that in the general 

 increase in railway rates which took effect in January, 1920, certain 

 classes of fertilisers and agricultural produce were either exempted from 

 increase or were subjected to a lower rate of increase than other traffic, as 

 recommended by the Rates Advisory Committee. On reviewing the rates in 



