§ DR. COOPER (Southwark, Bermondsey)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture whether, as there has not been a case of foot-and-mouth disease either in Denmark or Holland for three years, and, according to the Return of the German Imperial Board of Agriculture, no case of foot-and-mouth disease for more than a year in
† See (4) Debates, clvi., 561; clviii., 1148.1380 Schleswig-Holstein, Oldenburg, Hanover, Westphalia, or the Rhine provinces, the Board of Agriculture will consider the advisability of at once removing the restrictions at present imposed on the importation of live cattle and sheep for immediate slaughter at the Deptford Foreign Cattle Market.(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The experience of the last fifteen years has shown that, owing no doubt to their geographical situation, outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease may be expected to occur both in Denmark and Holland from time to time, and this being the case, and in view of the terms of the Disease of Animals Act, 1894, my noble friend regrets that he cannot consistently with his statutory duty make any modifications in the restrictions referred to. I may add that twenty-one cattle were attacked with the disease in Denmark in 1904, and that there were two cases in Holland in the same year.