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Pigs

Volume 103: debated on Thursday 28 February 1918

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40.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what steps, if any, it is proposed to take in order to prevent the disappearance of the pig as an article of food?

The shortage of concentrated feeding-stuffs rules the situation. But the Board, in consultation with the pig-breeding associations of the country, have framed a scheme for the preservation of all sows suitable for breeding, the increase of the pig population, the allocation to sows and pigs of a proportion of the available meal and cake, the utilisation of food not available for human consumption, and the multiplication of the number of pigs kept by allotment holders and cottagers. Certain questions relating to the prices of pig-meat and of store pigs are still unsettled and prevent me from giving a move detailed answer. I hope to be in a position to reply more fully in the course of the next week.

Did not the right hon. Gentleman, in the excellent speech he made recently, advise people to keep pigs?

Most certainly I did, and I do now. It depends upon the mode in which they are fed.

That is not quite the question, which is whether we can do it with a particular class of food.

Will the right hon. Gentleman provide that particular class of food?

That is beyond my control, and beyond the control of any Department in this country.