§ MR. M. BROOKSasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, If he is aware that complaints have been sent to the Local Government Board and to the Privy Council of Ireland, relative to the burials of cattle slaughtered in accordance with 1016 the Pleuro Pneumonia (Ireland) Order 1876, in a field adjoining the spinning mills on the Circular Road, Dublin; if it is complained that the provisions of the Order in Council with regard to the mode in which the burials are carried out are not enforced either in letter or spirit; that the carcasses are not buried at a reasonable depth, some not one foot, some not quite below the surface; that the place selected for such burials is unfit for the purpose, being used for grazing ground for other cattle, and being in a near neighbourhood of land in which extensive building of dwelling-houses has lately been in operation; and, if he will order any, and what steps, to be taken to prevent a recurrence of these complaints?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHSir, complaints of the nature described in the hon. Member's Question were made both to the Local Government Board for Ireland and to the Irish Government. The Director of the Veterinary department of the Privy Council, Professor Ferguson, inquired into the matter, and it appeared from his Report that the complaints were a good deal exaggerated, as he stated that the animals were buried at an average depth of 4½ feet, and that since the field had been used for this purpose no cattle had been allowed to graze there. He expressed his opinion, however, that the place in question, I being within the municipal boundary, was unsuitable for the purpose for which it had been selected. In that opinion the Lord Lieutenant entirely concurred, and the Local Government Board were I requested to point out to the Board of Guardians the propriety of at once discontinuing the interment of the carcasses in this field, and selecting another at a distance from Dublin, which they could easily do, as their Union extends over a large rural district. The Local Government Board wrote to this effect on the 19th of February, and it appears from the public Press that the Guardians have since taken steps for adopting the course suggested to them. I may add that the responsibility for carrying out the provisions of the Cattle Diseases (Ireland) Act, 1876, rests with the Board of Guardians of the Union in which it may be put in force rather than with the Local Government Board or the Irish Executive.