§ SIR JERVOISE JERVOISEsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether it is true, as stated in answer to question 4,325 (Cattle Plague Commission), that as many as twelve cases of pleuro-pneumonia existed in one Dairy within six weeks: Question 4,426, that the London Dairies are never free from pleuro-pneumonia for many weeks together: Question 4,519, that Lord Granville's sheds have never been a month without it in the last four years; and, if so, what special measures have been taken to stamp out or isolate a disease said to be little less dangerous than the Cattle Plague?
MR. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that the Government had not any means of testing the accuracy of the evidence given by witnesses before the Cattle Plague Commission. The powers possessed by the Privy Council hitherto had always been held to apply to diseases of an epidemic or infectious character, and not to chronic diseases—the class to which pleuro-pneumonia belonged. It might be doubted, therefore whether the Privy Council possessed the power of ordering the cattle so affected to be killed, which was, he supposed, the process of "Stamping out" contemplated by his hon. Friend. No application to insolate any diseased district had been made to the Privy Council, and, taking into account how wide-spread the disease was, 116 it was doubtful whether any measure of the kind would be effectual.