§ MR. WHITMORE (Chelsea)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agri- 1290 culture what progress has been made with the extirpation of rabies in England since his last statement; and whether he can now say when it will be practicable and expedient to revoke the muzzling orders which are still in force.
* MR. LONGPerhaps I may be allowed to give the number of cases of rabies known to have occurred in Great Britain since 1896, the year prior to the commencement of our operations against the disease. In that year 436 cases were confirmed; in 1897, 151 cases; in 1898, 17 cases; and during the present year, so far as it has gone, only one case has been confirmed. With regard to the revocation of the muzzling orders, we have now made arrangements for obtaining the same security against the introduction of the disease from Ireland as exists in the case of foreign countries, and as soon as these arrangements arc in effective operation I hope to be in a position to withdraw the Orders from the Midland and West Riding areas, to be followed at no distant date by the revocation of those in force in Lancashire and the metropolitan area, if no further cases occur.