19-21.] 



The SiPPiA' OF Store Cattle. 



recommendations of the Agricultui-al Committee for eacli 

 administrative county, and that the Act be amended 

 accordingly." 



On being put to the meeting it was defeated. The follow- 

 ing resolution in favour of re-introducing the payment of 

 rewards for the destruction of rats was also defeated: — 



" That the ^Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries be 

 asked to press for the amendment of the Kats and Mice 

 (Destruction) Act, 1919, in such a manner as to allow of 

 rewards for the destruction of lats being paid from the 

 County Fund." 



****** 



In the recent controversy on the question of store cattle in 

 the United Kingdom, certain important facts have been over- 

 The Su 1 of ^^^^iT^iple, few people appear to 



Store Cattle ^'^^li^e that the decline revealed by the 

 xAgricultural Keturns collected on the 4th 

 June, 1920, was confined almost entirely to the herds of England 

 and Wales. The decrease in Scotland, if compared with that of 

 England and Wales, is seen to be very small, while in Ireland, 

 whence Great Britain derives a large part of the total number 

 of stores required for feeding, there was practically no change; 

 indeed, the total number of cattle in Ireland last year was very 

 little short of the highest number recorded. It follows that 

 there was in Ireland a heavy surplus of store cattle, from 

 which the decline in Great Britain could be m;)de up. and the 

 number of fattening stores shipped from Ireland in the seven 

 months June to December, 1920, was, in fact, 281,000, a^^ 

 against an average of 168,000 in the corresponding pei-iod 

 1917, 1918 and 1919. 



It will be remembered that in January last there was an 

 outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Ireland, and it became 

 necessary to place an embargo on importation into Great 

 Britain, with the result that the number of Irish stores received 

 in the first two months of this year in Great Britain has 

 declined sensibly. It has now been possible to relax the restric- 

 tions, and there is no reason to doubt that Irish stores will 

 appear again in large number in the Enghsli and Welsh markets. 

 The considerable increase in the importation of Irish stores 

 last year was reflected in the total mnnbei- of store cattle re- 

 turned as having been offered at those niajlKct^ in Knuiand and 

 Wales which are included in the ^finivtiw's " Return of 

 Mai'ket Pi-ices." The fiiiuve for the period .^tnie :^>r<l to r)(^'(M]i- 



A 2 



