§ MR. CHAPLIN (Lincolnshire, Sleaford)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether any further cases of disease have been discovered by the special examination of Canadian cattle; and if he has come to any decision with regard to the exemption of Canadian cattle from slaughter at the port during the present season?
§ COLONEL WARING (Down, N.)At the same time, I will ask the right lion. Gentleman whether there have been any more cases of suspicious lung disease detected among the imported Canadian cattle; and what course he intends to pursue with regard to them?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD or AGRICULTURE (Mr. H. GARDNER,) Essex, Saffron WaldenIn reply to the right hon. Gentleman, and to the hon. Gentleman the Member for North Down, who also has a question on the Paper on this subject, I may state that an animal was landed at Liverpool on the 2nd instant ex s.s. Lake Superior from Montreal, and on examination a small portion of the right lung presented appearances similar to those found in contagious pleuro-pneumonia. With a view, if possible, to clear up the doubts which have been expressed as to the precise character of the disease with which the infected animals landed from Canada during the past two years have been affected, I am proposing to hold a special inquiry with a view to my hearing the views of the various experts who by my invitation inspected the diseased portion of the lungs of the Toronto animal, and I am happy to say that I have been able to secure the assistance in this matter of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bury and of Dr. Burdon Sanderson, the Waynflete Professor of Physiology at Oxford University, who have most kindly undertaken to act as my legal and pathological assessors. Pending the conclusions at which I may arrive as the result of my inquiry, the existing requirement of slaughter at the Port must of course be maintained, but it would be contrary to law for me to enter into any engagement either one way or the other as to my future action, which must depend on the facts and information before me from time to time.
§ MR. CHAPLINAre we to understand that the right hon. Gentleman has doubts as to the decision of the experts of the Board of Agriculture, and that he has ceased to place reliance on their opinions as to what is or what is not contagious pleuro-pneumonia?
§ MR. H. GARDNERNo, Sir; the right hon. Gentleman is to understand nothing of the sort. Certain scientific questions have arisen with regard to these lungs which it would be to the advantage of everybody to have decided, and I may tell the right hon. Gentleman that nobody is more anxious that this inquiry should take place than my own scientific advisers.
§ MR. CHAPLINMay I ask where these doubts have arisen unless it be in the minds of those whose interest it is to send these animals to England? Is there any doubt in the minds of experts at the Board of Agriculture?
§ MR. H. GARDNERI have already told the right hon. Gentleman that nobody is more anxious to have this inquiry than my own advisers.
§ Subsequently,
§ MR. CHAPLINI wish, with the permission of the House, to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture if he can inform the House what are the special qualifications of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bury to pronounce an opinion as to whether the lungs of a certain animal are affected or not with contagious disease; and what is the reason for employing an eminent legal authority in a matter where the question to be decided is whether the lungs of certain Canadian animals recently landed in this country are or are not affected with contagious pleuro-pneumonia?
§ MR. H. GARDNERI am not concerned to answer as to the veterinary qualifications of the right hon. Member for Bury, but his eminence in the law is well known in this House and elsewhere. The inquiry which I propose is entirely for my own information as President of the Board of Agriculture. The Government do not abrogate its responsibility nor its authority, but for my own information I propose to examine experts in order to see whether the animals in question were affected as alleged or not.
§ MR. CHAPLINHow does the President of the Board of Agriculture expect that the employment of an eminent legal authority is to throw any light whatever on a purely technical question?
§ MR. H. GARDNERI should have thought the right hon. Gentleman would know that the examination of experts is a very common practice in the Courts of Law.