§ MR. HENRY CHAPLIN (Lincolnshire, Sleaford)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether it is true that, although the Swine Fever Act has now been in operation for nearly two years, the number of cases reported to the Board of Agriculture for the first 20 weeks of 1895 considerably exceeds the number reported for the first 20 weeks in 1894, and largely exceeds the number of cases reported for the similar period in 1893 and 1892?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. HERBERT GARDNER,) Essex, Saffron WaldenIt is the case that the number of Reports of swine fever received during the first 20 weeks of the current year considerably exceeds the corresponding figure for 1894; but the proportion of cases in which the disease is actually found to exist is now very much less than it was, and during the last seven weeks there has been a slight reduction in the number of outbreaks as compared with 1894. This fact, coupled with the reduction of the number of cases reported from Ireland, gives me some ground for hoping that the position will continue to prove.