§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is the case that compensation for slaughter in cattle plague is paid out of a central fund; and whether, if so, it would obviate some of the difficulties alluded to by him, in dealing in the same way with pleuro-pneumonia?
§ MR. GOSCHENIt is true that in 1878 compensation for slaughter was to be paid out of public funds in the case of cattle plague; but a sharp distinction was drawn in the course of the debate, even by Gentlemen of high—very high—agricultural authority, between cattle plague and pleuro-pneumonia. In fact, the House was partly persuaded to agree to national compensation for cattle slaughtered for cattle plague, on the ground that the case of cattle plague was entirely different from that of pleuro-pneumonia and foot and-mouth disease. I have only hastily read the debate, but this is the impression I have derived. No money has actually been paid out of public funds under the Act of 1878 so far as I have been able to discover.