§ MR. LUCAS-SHADWELL (Hastings)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will now take off the Muzzling Order for that portion of the county of Sussex which is under the administration of the East Sussex County Council; and, if he cannot do so immediately, whether he can fix any date on which he expects to be able to remove the Order?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. AKERS DOUGLAS,) Kent, St. Augustine'sMy right honourable Friend has asked me to read his answer as follows: I should be glad to see my way to relax the Muzzling Order now in force in East Sussex, but there are indications that rabies, although so substantially reduced, still lingers in the metropolis and the home counties, between which and the district in question there is so considerable a movement of population at this period of the year. I cannot but think, therefore, that the withdrawal of the Order at the present time might easily result in my having to re-impose it at no distant date—a step which I am most anxious, if possible, to avoid. It 694 would not be desirable that I should specify any date for the withdrawal of the Order, but my honourable Friend may be sure that I shall not lose sight of the representations he has made to me on the subject, and I am very hopeful that if the present condition of things is maintained I shall be able to withdraw the Order at no distant date.