Letters and Papers Concerning the Trans-Persian Railway and Other Railways in Persia [‎213v] (426/442)

699
Irish Creameries and [ LORDS ] Dairy Produce Bill.
700
IRISH CREAMERIES AND DAIRY PRODUCE
BILL, [h.l.]
Amendments reported (according to
Order).
Lord PLUNKET : My Lords, I have an
Amendment to move at this stage. It is
to omit the proviso in Clause 1 . Your
Lordships will remember that in Committee
I withdrew this Amendment at the sug
gestion of the noble Marquess, Lord
Lansdowne, with the idea of endeavouring
to find some way of getting rid of the
difficulty with which we are confronted
owing to the insertion in the Bill of this
proviso, which is very much objected to
by the Irish creameries. I am sorry to say
that, though I have consulted with the
noble Lord in charge of the Bill, we have
not been able to find any way out of the
difficulty, and therefore I am compelled to
press this Amendment. I trust that in
another place some alternative proviso
may be agreed upon which will satisfy the
Board of Trade and at the same time not
render this Bill a contentious one.
Amendment moved—
Clause ], page 1, lines 19 to 23, leave out (“ Pro
vided that in Great Britain the term ‘Creamery’
if applied to Irish butter shall not by reason of the
foregoing provision be taken to be a false trade
description unless there is also applied to the
butter a description stating or indicating that the
butter was made or manufactured in Ireland
(Lord Plunket.) J '
Lord ASHBY ST. LEDGERS: My
Lords, this subject was fully discussed
yesterday when the Committee stage of
the Bill was taken, and I do not think it
is necessary to repeat the arguments
which were then stated. I must say I
regret very much the action of the noble
Lord in seeking to delete this proviso.
The only desire we have in inserting it is
to protect the British salesman who quite
inadvertently sells as creamery butter
Irish creamery butter not made in a
registered creamery. I sincerely hope
that language may be discovered later
which will satisfy all parties. I do not
propose to trouble your Lordships to
divide upon this Amendment, but I must
say that we reserve to ourselves the right
to reinsert it in another place if, as perhaps
may be the case, some compromise is not
reached. My noble friend Lord Lucas
is in his place, and I hope he will give your
Lordships the benefit of the view enter
tained on this subject by the Board of
Agriculture.
*The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY
to the BOARD of AGRICULTURE and
FISHERIES (Lord Lucas) : My Lords,
this is an Irish Bill and one which does not
affect our Department, except that we
have in this particular case to safeguard
as far as we can the interests of English
traders who are concerned. I can assure
the noble Lord opposite that we will do
everything we possibly can to assist the
interests he has at heart. We fully realise
what admirable institutions these creameries
are, and we wish that we could have
had the same success in this country in
starting co-operative creameries. We do
not wish to do anything to injure Irish
creameries, but at the same time the
matter has to be looked at from the point
of view of the English trader. With the
best will in the world towards Irish
{ creameries it is a little difficult to give
i them a monopoly in the word “ creamery.”
Ireland is by no means the only place
1 which has creameries. We have creameries
here ; and a great deal of creamery butter
j comes into this country from abroad.
, Unless the trader can be perfectly certain
j °f the country of origin, which is not
always easy, it would be impossible for
him, if this Amendment is agneed to, to
call butter “ creamery butter ” at all;
or, if he does, he runs the risk of its being
discovered to have come from an Irish
; creamery and then he lays himself open
to the penalties in the Bill. It is hard
on the English trader that it should be
necessary for him in all cases to trace
the origin of the creamery butter he sells.
Therefore, while we are prepared to go
a good way to meet the objects of the
promoters of this Bill, we think that what
the noble Lord is asking for in his Amend
ment is pushing the thing a little too far.
May I add this word of warning ? As far
as we know, the Bill is accepted by all
parties in Ireland, but I do not think
English traders have been consulted on the
measure. It is difficult to prophesy, but
there is a strong probability that if the
noble Lord’s Amendment is agreed to
there will be mobilised against this Bill a
very strong body of opinion on the part
of the traders of this country which would
seriously endanger the prospects of the
Bill passing into law.
*The Marquess of LANSDOWNE :
When this matter was discussed last night
we were left under the impression that
the further consideration of it was to be