§ MR. FLYNNI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Veterinary Department has the power to order the slaughter of cattle as diseased without a thorough examination; whether his attention has been called to a case of a tenant farmer, named Patrick Frawley, Lisgriffin, Buttevant, County Cork, who sold a cow on 28th October 1896, at, Mallow, which was shipped with cattle from other districts, some of these cattle being 163 found to be diseased; whether, upon an official from the Veterinary Department calling on Mr. Frawley a few days ago, the latter offered to pay the expense of an independent veterinary surgeon with the object of thorough and reliable inspection; and has the Veterinary Department power to authorise the wholesale slaughter of cattle in cases where independent inspection is called for.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe Veterinary Department has power to slaughter not only cattle known to be affected with pleuro-pneumonia, or suspected of being so affected, but also any cattle ascertained to have been in contact with affected cattle. In consequence of the occurrence recently of a serious outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia in London, the affected cattle, it is stated, having been imported from Cork, the Inspectors of the Irish Veterinary Department were at once instructed to restrict the movement in Ireland of cattle which were ascertained to have been associated with the animals shipped to London and among which disease was found to have existed. Among the cattle so traced and restricted are those belonging to Patrick Frawley, and in the event of the slaughter of his cattle compensation will be paid to him out of the moneys voted by Parliament for the suppression of pleuro-pneumonia. The diagnosis of this disease cannot with safety be allowed to depend exclusively on veterinary inspection of the living animal, as experience has shown that a conclusive decision in regard to the existence of disease in cattle exposed to infection can only be arrived at after slaughter and post-mortem examination. Ireland has happily been entirely free from pleuro-pneumonia since 1892, and it is obviously essential in the best interests of the Irish cattle trade that any ground for suspicion as to the existence of the disease should be promptly removed.