§ MR. W. REDMOND (Clare, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether he has received from the Kilrush Town Commissioners a resolution asking that the Order of the Local Government Board in Ireland regarding swine fever should be withdrawn or modified; and whether he can comply with the request of the Kilrush Commissioners?
MR. G. RUSSELLA resolution to the effect stated has been received. I am informed by the Veterinary Department that a larger number of outbreaks of swine fever have occurred in the Kilrush union than in any other union in Ireland. Four hundred and ninety-six outbreaks occurred in this union between 1st November, 1893, and the 23rd February, 1895. Local Authorities in Great Britain are empowered by the Board of Agriculture to prohibit the introduction of Irish pigs into their districts, and it is, therefore, the more incumbent on the authorities in Ireland to take measures to stamp out the disease there.
§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, if the Local Government Board have received complaints of the operation of the swine fever regulations in Monaghan union; what number of swine have been slaughtered, and what number of cases reported there within the past six mouths; and what have been the fees of the veterinary surgeon, and the total cost to the rates in this union, since the Act was passed?
MR. G. RUSSELLThe Board of Guardians of the Monaghan union have passed a resolution requesting the withdrawal of the recent Swine Fever Order of the Privy Council. During the six months ended the 31st January last, 194 swine were slaughtered in the union. Seventy-nine cases of supposed swine fever were reported by owners to the police during that period, and in 66 of these the swine were slaughtered by the Veterinary Inspector of the Local Authority, as diseased. In 59 cases the outbreak of disease was confirmed on examination of the viscera in Dublin. The fees of the Veterinary Inspector of the, union, since the Swine Fever Act was passed in November 1893, amount to about £142. The exact cost of the expenditure to the rates is not known. The funds voted by Parliament for the current financial year sufficed to meet the expenditure till nearly the close of 1894, and an assessment at the rate of ½d. in the £ was then made on the various poor law unions. The amount assessed on Monaghan union was £198 13s. 8d.