HC Deb 01 May 1884 vol 287 cc1046-7
MR. HICKS

asked Mr. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Whether he is yet in a position to give the House detailed information respecting the movements of the 101 bullocks which arrived in Cambridgeshire during the night of 14th April, from the time they were taken out of the ship which brought them to England till the hour they were placed in the Railway trucks at Liverpool; whether he can now state (supposing they came in the ship Quebec, from. Canada, as he informed the House on the 24th), what has become of the rest of the cargo; and, whether he will direct the Government veterinary inspector and the chief of police at Liverpool and, if necessary, at Birkenhead, to supply the authorities of Cambridgeshire with all the information they have been able, or may hereafter be able, to obtain?

MR. DODSON

Sir, we are now in possession of full information on this subject. These 101 bullocks formed part of two cargoes landed from Canada on the 9th and 12th of April. They were passed healthy by our Inspector on landing, and again by the Market Inspector, when they were exposed for sale in Stanley Market on the 14th, having been in a lair adjoining the market during the interval between their landing and exposure in the market. These 101 bullocks were sent to Cambridgeshire, and on the 17th of April foot-and-mouth disease appeared among them. Fifty-one of them went to Wimpole, and 50 were slaughtered at Cambridge. The rest of the two cargoes were distributed to various towns, and no outbreak has been reported among them. Thus this information accounts for the whole of both cargoes, and I shall be happy to furnish all or any part of it to the Cambridgeshire local authorities, if they think it would be useful to them.

MR. HICKS

asked whether the lair in which those cattle were kept, from the time of their landing to the 14th of April, was at any time used for keeping cattle brought to this country for immediate slaughter?

MR. DODSON

The hon. Member must be aware that cattle from countries from which there is free admission— Canada, for example—are not landed at the same places as cattle that come from, other countries, and are to be slaughtered.