§ DR. TANNERI beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether any further cases of transit pneumonia have been reported as occurring in cattle imported from Canada and the United States; if the affection is clearly specific, or merely caused by hardship and exposure; and whether there is any infective power; and, if so, of what degree?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. WALTER LONG, Liverpool, West Derby)The cases to which I understand the hon. Member to refer are the cases in which contagious pleuro-pneumonia has been discovered in cattle brought from Canada and the United States. Of these, there have been, in all 88 cases—viz., 72 from the United States and 16 from Canada, since October 1892. The disease is undoubtedly a specific one and of an infectious character, but the degree of infectivity is relatively low.
§ DR. TANNERasked whether it was a fact that the sanitary officers in the United States and also in Canada, had cast serious and grave doubts upon the infectious character of the disease?
§ MR. LONGsaid, he did not know whether the sanitary officers cast those doubts, but certain doubts were cast. The question was raised and it was proved conclusively in this country that the disease was infectious.
§ DR. TANNERasked whether those doubts were not embodied in the very latest return issued by the Board of Agriculture?