asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the sharp rise in the number of cases of tuberculosis detected in cattle in Cheshire.

Routine tuberculin testing of herds is generally a triennial operation. In the herds tested in Cheshire in 1974, only one reactor was found, but the number increased in 1975 to 49–38 of them in only four herds—and so far this year there have been 23 reactors—17 of them in one herd. Despite intensive investigations, which are continuing, the source of infection has not yet been identified. The rate of incidence of reactors in Cheshire for 1975, at 0·034 per cent. of cattle in herds tested, was still below the national average.