§ SIR A. K. ROLLIT (Islington, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether another outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia has occurred in a cowshed in Spitalfields; whether, under the London Cowsheds Pleuro-pneumonia Order of 1895, No.5,289, Section 15, it would be the duty of the inspector in the Metropolitan Cattle Market, Islington, to stop all cattle being removed from the market should an animal affected with pleuro-pneumonia be discovered there, and whether such being the case, the Board of Agriculture will again set into operation the London Cowsheds Pleuro-pneumonia Order of 1893, No. 5,140, which rendered it necessary to obtain a licence from an inspector, before a cow could be removed from any shed in the Metropolis.
§ MR. HERBERT GARDNERIt is, I am sorry to say, the case, that pleuro-pneumonia was discovered a few days ago in the carcass of a cow brought from a cowshed in Spitalfields. The usual inquiries have been made, and the 1059 contact animals slaughtered, but no further cases of disease have been found. In the event of the discovery of pleuro-pneumonia in the Metropolitan Cattle Market, it would be the duty of the inspector of the local authority to proceed in the manner indicated in the question. I am well aware of the inconvenience which would result, and I trust that the Corporation may be willing to adopt certain suggestions I have recently caused to be made to them with regard to the veterinary inspection of animals at the entrance of the market. Such an arrangement would, in my opinion, be more likely to prevent the necessity of interference with the business of the market than the re-imposition of the Cowsheds Order of 1893.