§ MR. DUCKHAM (Herefordshire, Leominster)asked the Chancellor of the 371 Duchy of Lancaster, Whether the promised Bill for amending the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act of 1878 will extend the provisions of Clause 20 of that Act from 56 to 90 days after the cessation of the disease before the local authority shall declare the place free from pleuro-pneumonia; whether it will provide for the slaughter of cattle that have been in the same shed, herd, or in contact with cattle affected with pleuropneumonia; and, whether the delegations of powers to the local authorities by the Privy Council will be so regulated as to promote a greater uniformity in the orders for the movement of animals and in giving effect to the general provisions of the Act?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY (Sir UGHTRED KAY - SHUTTLEWORTH) (Lancashire, Clitheroe)said, the number of cattle slaughtered in Great Britain under the Act of 1878 to stamp out pleuro-pneumonia has been 20,525; in Ireland 11,150, while 455 have died in Great Britain, and 251 in Ireland. The amount paid out of local rates for cattle slaughtered has been, in Great Britain, £239,576 6s. 7d. (including compensation for swine slaughtered for swine fever up to the end of 1883); in Ireland the amount has been £74,889 for cattle slaughtered. The following are the British counties and Irish Poor Law Unions in which pleuro-pneumonia was reported to exist in the week ending 20th March:—British Counties — Chester, Cumberland, Hants, Kent, Lancaster, Middlesex, Salop, the Metropolis, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Fife, Forfar, Roxburgh, and Selkirk. Irish Poor Law Unions—Balrothery, North Dublin, South Dublin, and Rathdown. In the week ending 24th April pleuro-pneumonia was reported in all the foregoing counties except Cheshire and Roxburghshire, and in the following:—namely, Dorset, Norfolk, Surrey, West Sussex, Warwick, West Riding, and Kincardine. In Ireland cases were reported in all the foregoing Unions except Balrothery.