Clause 95. — (Prevention of damage by pests.)
Orders of the Day — Agriculture Bill
Mr Reginald Manningham-Buller (Daventry)
The hon. and learned Gentleman says it does not apply to birds. If one looks at Subsection (3), one sees that clearly it does. One sees from it that:
poison for destroying rats, mice or other small vermin so long as reasonable precautions are taken to prevent injury to domestic animals and wild birds) for the words 'rats, mice' there shall be substituted the words 'animals other than deer or hares, to which section ninety-five of the Agriculture' Act, 1947, applies.
Section 95 of the Agriculture Act, 1947, applies to rabbits, hares and other rodents, deer foxes and moles and the birds to which the Section applies. If the hon. and learned Gentleman likes to say that birds are not animals, he is entitled to express that view, but I suggest it is not clear in the drafting. So far as the drafting of this Clause is concerned, I suggest to him that it really does not correspond with the words he uttered in moving the Amendment.