I move:—
That Emergency Powers (No. 181) Order, 1942 (Second Amendment) Order, 1942, Emergency Powers (No. 227) Order, 1942 (Amendment) Order, 1942, Emergency Powers (No. 228) Order, 1942 (Amendment) Order, 1942, Emergency Powers (No. 249) Order, 1942, made by the Government on the 30th day of December, 1942, be and are hereby annulled.
When we passed the Emergency Powers Act we all believed that the Orders made under that Act would be based on commonsense and would not inflict hardship on any class of the community. The Orders which I propose should be annulled, in my opinion, are not based on commonsense and, as I am informed and as I believe, they inflict unnecessary hardships on the pork butchers and will not have the effect of increasing the production of pigs and bacon but of decreasing production.
As Senators may not understand the full meaning of the Orders, I think I should read a circular that was sent to each registered pork butcher by the Secretary to the Department of Agriculture, which fully explains the objects of Order No. 249. It is as follows:—
"I am directed by the Minister for Agriculture to call your attention to the provisions of the Emergency Powers (No. 249) Order, 1942, which was made by the Government on the 30th December, 1942, and under the provisions of which no person shall, after the 31st December, 1942, cure at any premises bacon for sale or for reward unless such person is the holder of a curing and slaughtering licence granted by the Minister in respect of such premises.
The provisions of Section 14 of the Pigs and Bacon Act, 1935, whereby registered pork butchers were permitted to cure a certain percentage of the pork used and dealt with by them accordingly ceased to have effect after the latter date and it will not, therefore, be necessary for you to furnish returns on form P.B. 7 to this Department in respect of any accounting period, within the meaning of Section 15 of the Act, after the month of December, 1942.
Kindly acknowledge receipt of this letter.
I am, Sir or Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
D. Twomey,
Secretary."
Under the Pigs and Bacon Act, pork butchers were allowed to cure or pickle 15 per cent. of the amount which they were permitted by quota to kill, but, since this Order came into force, it is an offence punishable by severe penalties—as all Emergency Powers Orders provide—a big fine or jail, or jail and a big fine combined. The whole point is that the practice of pickling bacon is a trade that has been carried on by the pork butchers for centuries. This Order prohibits any such thing. There are several portions of pig which are not suitable for sale as pork chops or pork steaks, such as the bellies, heads and other portions. The age-old practice of the pork butchers was to pickle those portions and sell them as pickled pork. Anyone who understands anything about the meat trade knows that pork is a very perishable commodity, particularly in murky, heavy or sultry weather. It gets tainted very quickly. On Saturday night the pork butcher might be convinced that the pork he had on hands would not keep until the following week. His natural instinct would be to put it into pickle and sell it on the Monday or Tuesday as perfectly good food. That has been the practice, but, in the present circumstances, he cannot do that. He can throw it into the ashbin, or burn it, but he is not allowed to pickle it. I contend that that is inflicting a great hardship on pork butchers. The Order, instead of conserving bacon or food for the people, will result in a considerable amount of waste if that pork is not allowed to be pickled. The Minister may say, as he said in Monaghan, that he is doing all this to preserve food for the human population, that if we had more pigs we would have less wheat, and less oats and other foods for consumption by humans. I do not at all agree with the Minister. Anyone with a practical knowledge of the country knows that there is plenty of food, sufficient to produce double the amount of bacon that is being produced at present, if an economic price were given for pigs.
The fact is that the food which, if a good price were given for pigs, would be devoted to producing pigs for bacon, is going to produce forward stores for shipment to England, that is, for producing cattle. If there was an economic price for bacon, we would produce bacon and produce twice the quantity we are producing at present. For that reason I cannot see any justification for this Order or why the Minister should not give some concession, meet the trade in a reasonable way and allow this practice, which according to the pork butchers has been carried on for centuries, to continue to some extent. The amount which they were allowed to cure under the Pigs and Bacon Act was 15 per cent. If the Minister is prepared to make some concession, if he would say, for instance, that he would reduce the amount to 10 per cent. of the allotted quota, I would be satisfied. I think that in all fairness the Minister should pay some attention to the case the pork butchers have made, and give them the concession which I am demanding on their behalf.