HL Deb 10 July 1912 vol 12 cc398-402
THE EARL OF MAYO

My Lords, I rise to ask His Majesty's Government how it happened that cattle that were in a diseased state were shipped from Dublin to England for sale. In putting this Question I do not wish to say anything about the seriousness of foot-and-mouth disease and how the outbreak has practically dislocated the cattle trade both of England and Ireland, but I desire to draw attention to some occurrences which took place before the outbreak of the disease was reported to the Irish Department of Agriculture. On Saturday, June 22, cattle from a farm at Swords, near Dublin, were shipped to Liverpool, and on that very day a quack veterinary doctor, not a veterinary surgeon, was called to that farm and treated some of the cattle there for what he chose to call "timber tongue." In answer to a Question put to him in the House of Commons on July 3 the Vice-President of the Irish Department of Agriculture said— We ascertained the fact that certain cattle which were sick had that very day been sent to Dublin from this farm. That is a fact of very great importance. It was concealed from the Department; none of the local authorities were aware of the disease on this farm. I quite admit that if the Department had been aware of this disease they naturally would have taken the very stringent action which they have since taken.

But the question I wish particularly to ask is this. How was it that on the day when these cattle were in the port of Dublin, before being shipped to Liverpool, the veterinary inspectors in Dublin did not notice that the cattle were suffering from disease? I am told on the best authority that when cattle land at Liverpool they are not examined; and the whole thing was not found out in this case until Thursday, June 27—five days after the cattle had been shipped from Dublin—when it was discovered by the inspectors of the Liverpool Corporation abattoirs after the animals had been slaughtered. They communicated, of course, with the Dublin authorities, who took the necessary steps. There is no doubt whatever that the disease was taken from Dublin to Liverpool and so distributed throughout the country, because all the animals were not slaughtered on arrival. I do not wish to blame the Department of Agriculture in Ireland in any way, because since they knew of the existence of the disease they have issued most stringent orders, so much so that at present you actually cannot even move a beast across the high road from one field to another in the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, and Meath. I should also like to ask whether there is likely to be any prosecution in regard to this matter under the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, because there is no doubt that the herd on this farm must have known of the existence of disease. Whether he knew it was foot-and-mouth disease or not, that is another question. I believe the answer given in the House of Commons by Mr. T. W. Russell, the Vice-President of the Irish Agricultural Department, was that if a prosecution would lie no doubt there would be a prosecution.

We have not had foot-and-mouth disease in Ireland since the year 1884, and it is conceivable that a generation of herds and also veterinary surgeons have grown up who have not seen this disease in existence and are only aware of it from writings and from their studies. I therefore venture to suggest to our Department—and I hope the suggestion will be taken in good part—that a notice for the information of farmers and others should be inserted in all the Irish newspapers, and alto posted on all the police barracks, setting forth clearly the symptoms of this disease. I am strengthened in this desire by the fact that the Board of Agriculture in England issued last week a description of the symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease. I wish our Department would also publish particulars of the symptoms of the disease for the use of farmers and others concerned in Ireland. I hope we shall have a clear answer as to the inspection of these cattle before they left Dublin. It has never come out whether or not some of the cattle actually inspected by the quack veterinary doctor were shipped from Dublin to Liverpool.

LORD ASHBY ST. LEDGERS

My Lords, the noble Earl asks, in effect, how it was that this epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease, which apparently originated in Ireland, was not detected by the veterinary officers appointed for the purpose of inspecting cattle shipped from Ireland. To answer that is to explain how it is an epidemic of any kind or description ever originates. The reply is that in all these diseases there is a period of incubation of greater or less duration during which, or during part of which, and especially during the initial stages of which, no symptoms exist which would enable anybody to diagnose the disease. Of course, when once aware that there is an epidemic raging people are more on the look out, periods of quarantine are established, and it is possible to hem in and restrict the epidemic; but in the early stages before any suspicion exists—and no suspicion did exist in this case—it is extremely difficult to detect the symptoms. That is actually what happened in this case.

The noble Earl knows very well that all cattle exported from Ireland are subjected to veterinary examination and are branded. In this case the contaminated cattle coming from the Swords farm were purchased in Dublin Market on June 20 and were shipped on June 22. Therefore all the cattle with which they were brought in contact could only have acquired the disease two days and five hours previous to their being examined for export. The period of incubation in foot-and-mouth disease varies, I am told, from two to ten days; the minimum is two days, and I suppose the average lies somewhere between that and the maximum of ten days. Our theory is, and indeed it seems perfectly obvious, that in this case the disease had not declared itself in the minimum period of two days during which these particular cattle had been subjected to infection. Consequently as there were no symptoms the disease was not detected. There is some confirmation of this view in the fact that the cattle which were shipped to Liverpool and examined on being landed there were passed by the authorities as sound; and, further, the Liverpool butchers who slaughtered the cattle failed to detect the disease, and it was only subsequently that some evidence of it was found in the offal. It therefore seems clear in this particular case that the disease could not have developed at the time when the cattle were subjected to veterinary examination in Ireland. Another batch of infected cattle were shipped to Holyhead and then conveyed to Oldham. Those cattle were slaughtered at Oldham, but no evidence of the disease was found there. In this connection I am told that it is quite possible for cattle to convey the disease without being infected themselves—that an animal may carry it without ever showing any symptoms of it; and it is quite conceivable that these particular cattle from the Swords district, which did, in fact, infect other cattle with which they came in contact, did not have the disease themselves and therefore would not show any symptoms which would enable the veterinary authorities to guard against the disease.

The noble Earl has asked whether any prosecution is in contemplation. I am informed that the Irish Government have laid the case before the Law Officers of the Crown, and that if it appears that there is a case for prosecution a prosecution will follow. Then the noble Earl suggested that notices giving particulars as to the symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease should be circulated in Ireland through the agency of the Press for the information of farmers. I will bring the noble Earl's suggestion to the attention of the authorities, and I have no doubt they will be prepared to give it favourable consideration.

THE EARL OF MAYO

There is one matter that I am not quite clear about, and we have never had a definite answer upon it—namely, whether any of the cattle that were examined by the quack veterinary doctor found their way to the Dublin steamer. The Vice-President of the Irish Department of Agriculture said that cattle from this particular farm had been sent to Dublin on the very day on which these animals were examined by the quack doctor.

LORD ASHBY ST. LEDGERS

I understand that three cattle from the Swords farm were sold in the Dublin market on June 20.