MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthenshire, W.)I beg to ask the Presdent of the Board of Agriculture whether he has received a copy of a resolution passed at the meeting of the Carmarthenshire County Council, held on the 24th of October last, calling his attention to the fact that the Board of Agriculture had either refused or omitted to make inoculation experiments in order to discover whether the dogs destroyed by 483 order of the Board of Agriculture in the county of Carmarthen, on the ground that they were suffering from rabies, were in fact so suffering; and, if so, whether he will state the reasons for such refusal or omission to make the necessary experiments; and whether he will state the grounds on which the muzzling order now in force in the county of Carmarthen was issued.
§ MR. AKERS DOUGLAS (for Mr. HANBURY)The resolution to which the hon. Member refers does not appear to have been received in my Department, but it is clear that it was passed on some misunderstanding as to the facts of the case. The Carmarthenshire Muzzling Order was passed because certain experiments conducted by our veterinary officers conclusively confirmed the opinion expressed by the veterinary inspector of the local authority that a dog kept near Llanwrda had developed symptoms of rabies. Eleven other cases of the disease have since occurred in the district to which Muzzling Orders have been applied, in two of which inoculative experiments were also carried out.