I move: That the Bill be now read a Second Time. The experience gained in administering the Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Acts of 1930 and 1931 shows the necessity of some amendments which are incorporated in this Bill and which aim at a smoother working of the Acts. In the first place, it is proposed to exempt in certain circumstances beef exporters from the inspection fees payable for the examination of animals slaughtered for export. It is intended to use this provision only in exceptional cases and it is for the purpose of encouraging an export trade in beef offals to relieve the surplus of cattle. Under the Act of 1930 we are compelled to charge the full fee for inspection even if only one particular organ of the animal is exported.
Under the Act of 1930, where the registration of slaughtering premises has ceased, the exporters' licence remains in force and there appears to be no legal way of getting over that difficulty. It is proposed under this amending Bill that if the registration of the slaughtering premises is cancelled the exporter shall automatically lose his licence.
Under an arrangement made with certain local sanitary authorities, the veterinary officers of these authorities are appointed as veterinary examiners for the purpose of the Fresh Meat Acts. There is a danger that, as they do not devote the whole of their time to the working of the Public Health Acts, their right to pension is possibly jeopardised. That point was dealt with in the Pigs and Bacon Bill in which their position was safeguarded and the same thing is being done under this Bill.
The amendments proposed in the Schedule are of a minor character and are generally intended to provide for a more satisfactory certification of exports. The words "free from disease" are being changed to "fit for human consumption." There is also the position that carcases which are mutiliated or perhaps not fully developed might quite possibly be free from disease but not fit for human consumption and the original Act is being amended to give the examiner power to reject meat as not being fit for human consumption even though it is free from disease.
Then the object of the amendments to Sections 36 and 40 of the Act of 1930 is to permit a licensed exporter to collect offals from other licensed exporters and export all from his own premises. As the Act stands, nothing can be exported from licensed premises except it is exported direct from that premises. There was, for instance, some trade for livers to Germany last summer and it was very difficult for the exporter to get them sent from each registered premises. It would have been much more convenient if they could have been all collected in one registered premises and exported from there, and this amendment is being introduced to meet such a contingency. There is nothing of any great principle in the amendments. They are designed, in fact, to meet administrative difficulties, and I do not think they should give any great trouble to any Deputy.