§ MR. HICKSinquired of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Whether he was in a position to give the House any information as to the 101 bullocks which on the 14th of this month were brought from Liverpool to Wimpole in Cambridgeshire; and, further, whether they came from abroad, and whether he could inform the House as to what parts of the country the remainder of the cargo had been sent?
§ MR. DODSON,in reply, said, the animals attacked with foot-and-mouth disease at Wimpole were part of the number of 101 animals to which the hon. Member referred. They were landed at Liverpool from the steamer Quebec on the 9th of April from Canada. They passed the Inspector of the Privy Council on the 10th as being free from disease. They were exposed for sale in the Liverpool Stanley Market on the 14th, and were again passed by the Market Inspector before they were sent into Cambridgeshire. The agent of the Canadian Government wrote to him calling attention to the fact that nine days elapsed after the arrival at Liverpool before the disease appeared, and 20 days, or thereabouts, after they were shipped from Canada. The Privy Council had sent an Inspector to Cambridge to inquire as to the rest of the 101 which were sent to Cambridge, and the Inspector at Harwich had been instructed to inspect the diseased animals at Wimpole, and the Privy Council Inspector at Liverpool had also been instructed to inquire as to the destination of the remainder of the cargo landed from Canada on the 9th instant.
§ MR. HICKSwished further to draw the attention of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to the fact that when the cattle were reported to the Inspector in Cambridgeshire on the 18th, as suffering from foot-and-mouth disease, they were in a very advanced stage of the disease.