MR. JOHN PHILIPPS (Pembroke)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether his attention has been called to the outbreak of glanders among the Government Yeomanry remounts at Oxford, and can he say how many horses have been destroyed; whether any of these animals had been known to be in contact with horses brought from South Africa by the late Government; and, if not, how the outbreak of disease is accounted for.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) A serious outbreak of glanders has recently occurred at Wytham, in Berkshire, due to a horse which had been moved there from the Clarendon Hotel at Oxford. The horse was the property of the War Office and was used for Yeomanry purposes, but I am informed that it was never in contact with horses brought from South Africa, and there is no evidence whatever to show that is contracted the disease from other Army horses. Twelve horses have been slaughtered by the local authority, and we are making a thorough inquiry into the case in concert with the Army Veterinary Department. The measures already adopted have, I hope, prevented the further spread of the disease.