§ Mr. C. BATHURSTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether, in view of the ignorance prevailing among agriculturists as to the nature of Johne's disease and the difficulty, without postmortem examination in order to ascertain the absence of tubercle in the intestines, of differentiating between this disease and tuberculosis, he will, when asking for information from agricultural societies and chambers of agriculture as to the local prevalence of Johne's disease, advise such examination before attributing the death of any animal to this disease solely on account of its having suffered from emaciation and scouring?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANGreat care is exercised by the Board in the consideration of the information forwarded to them, and they do not accept a report of the existence of Johne's disease unless it is supported by good evidence. I think the Board would hardly be justified in asking chambers of agriculture and others to incur all the trouble and expense of obtaining a post-mortem examination of each reported case.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is almost an entire ignorance among farmers as to the nature of this disease and in cases of cattle dying from tuberculosis with scouring, which are the only symptoms indicated by the Board in connection with Johne's disease?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI would like notice of that question.