§ SIR WILLIAM FRASERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been drawn to a statement made on the 3rd of March in the Kensington Vestry to the effect that no less than 116 glandered horses have been slaughtered in that parish during the last six months; whether he considers that efficient means are taken to ensure the burial of the whole body of each animal; and, whether he will cause inquiry to be made as to the spread of this disease? He added, that from information subsequently received, he found that 40 of the horses mentioned were affected in an adjoining parish, and he was also informed that the fat of these animals was sold for the manufacture of a compound known as "butterine."
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONSir, I am informed by the head of the Veterinary department that 60 cases of glanders and 50 of farcy have been returned in the period named. No facilities exist in the Metropolis for burying carcases. The local authority, under licence from the Privy Council, cause the carcases to be disinfected and removed under charge of one of their officers to a "knacker's" (approved by the Privy Council), where they are destroyed by boiling. I have heard nothing as to the manufacture of butterine. The increase in the number is probably due, not so much to any increase in the disease, as to greater activity on the part of the local authority in prosecuting persons under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act for not giving notice of disease.
§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYwould like to know if it was possible to disinfect the body of a glandered horse? He considered it very doubtful.
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONsaid, the information he had given was on the authority of Professor Brown, the head of the Veterinary department. He said the carcases were disinfected, and he presumed, therefore, that it was possible to do it.