§ MR. CHAPLINWith reference to the statement of the right hon. Gentleman, I am sorry to say that I cannot be here to-morrow. I will ask the President of the Board of Agriculture a question on a subject on which I should have had something to say if I had been able to be here—the importation of Canadian cattle. I beg to ask him whether, with regard to the special examination which he has instituted into the health of Canadian cattle, any suspicious cases have been reported to the Department already?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. H. GARDNER,) Essex, Saffron WaldenOn examination, the lungs of an animal landed at Liverpool by the steamship Toronto, from Montreal, on the 20th inst., and slaughtered on the 23rd inst., were found to present appearances distinctly suggestive of pleuro-pneumonia. The diseased portion is now being made the subject of careful examination by the veterinary officers of my Department, who will report to me the result at the earliest possible moment. So soon as the lungs 1425 in question wore received, I invited a number of gentlemen, whose evidence in such matters would be likely to be of value, to inspect the lungs while these were still fresh, and to take careful notes of the appearances presented. I hope that by this means I have secured ample material upon which to base any further investigation which might be decided on.
§ MR. JEFFREYS (Hants, Basingstoke)After this discovery, is it the intention of the right hon. Gentleman to relax the restrictions now enforced?
§ MR. H. GARDNERI have just said that no decision has been taken on the matter.