§ SIR ANDREW AGNEWsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Privy Council on Education, If he can give any information as to whether the disease said to have broken out among sheep in some parts in Scotland had in any instance been reported by competent authority to be identical with Rinderpest?
MR. H. A. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that 16 no official information had been received as to the existence of rinderpest among sheep in Scotland; but he was sorry to say that other information had reached the Government which left little doubt of the existence of the disease in Forfarshire and the county of Fife. As to England, he regretted to say there could be no doubt. An inspection of sheep said to have died by rinderpest had been made by Professors Simonds and Brown on behalf of the Veterinary Department. The result was to establish in their minds beyond all doubt that the rinderpest had existed in ten different cases among sheep in England, and that it was accompanied with serious loss. He was informed by Professor Simonds that in every case where he had traced the loss of sheep to its source the animals had been in contact with cattle suffering from the disease.