§ LORD ROBERT MONTAGUsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether he can give the House any further information concerning the two cargoes of sheep from Antwerp and Rotterdam which he had ordered to be slaughtered; and, especially whether any sheep from the same 1468 locality have been sold in the Metropolitan Market and sent into the country before the disease was discovered?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, with respect to the two cargoes of infected sheep which had recently arrived at Harwich and London, he found he was mistaken in supposing that one came from Antwerp and the other from Rotterdam. The two lots of infected sheep formed but a small portion of the two cargoes, and they both came from the same owner on the Continent, who had divided them into different cargoes. His noble Friend was well aware that the present state of the law gave no power for compelling the owners of steamers that conveyed infected animals to disinfect those steamers. It was a difficulty that had been felt by the Privy Council, and which it was intended to remove by the Bill he had introduced. In the present case he was happy to state that arrangements for the complete disinfection of the vessels had been made with the owners. As to the cargo which arrived last Saturday he had made inquiries, and had every reason to believe that there were no infected sheep in it. He was certain that there were no sheep that came from the owner who had sent the two former batches of infected sheep.