§ 16. Mr. JAMES O'KELLYasked the Chief Secretary whether, in view of the fact that the province of Connaught has been free from foot-and-mouth disease for thirty years, he will allow store cattle and sheep from the whole province to be admitted into England and Scotland without further delay?
§ Mr. T. W. RUSSELL (Vice-President of the Board of Agriculture, Ireland)This is a matter for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Under the Regulations of that Board store cattle can at present be shipped from the ports of Sligo and West-port, in the province of Connaught.
§ 38. Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that, in consequence of the embargo on the Irish cattle trade, farmers in county Longford have been wholly unable to realise the value of their cattle at the recent fairs; whether at the recent Sessions held in that county numerous decrees were taken out for annuity instalments and interest in lieu of rent unpaid because of the situation created by this cattle embargo; and whether he will request the Land Commission to suspend the execution of these decrees pending the reopening of English markets to Irish store stock, which is the principal source of revenue for these poor men?
§ Mr. BIRRELLAt the recent Quarter Sessions in county Longford decrees were 1422 obtained for land purchase instalments and interest in lieu of rent which accrued due in the months of May and June last. The number of cases in which it was necessary to take proceedings was not appreciably greater than the number usual at this period in normal years. The Land Commission have no power to suspend the execution of the decrees.
§ Mr. FARRELLHas the right hon. Gentleman any power to request the Land Commission to suspend the execution of decrees?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo.
43. Mr. KELLYasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether he is aware that in July last a consignment of cattle sent by Mr. MacDermott, of Ballybofey, from Londonderry to Glasgow, and returned thence to Derry, were at Derry put in the same yard as cattle which had been returned from Heysham; that at the time no infected cattle had been landed in Glasgow, where as Heysham was within an infected area: that Mr. MacDermott's cattle were put with the cattle from the infected area by order of his officials, with the result that the quarantine period for these cattle was much longer than it should have been; and that Mr. MacDermott was obliged to pay for the keep of the cattle while they were so detained and incur the loss from their deterioration; and, seeing that this loss was avoidable and due to the action of his officials, will he compensate Mr. Mac Dermott for it?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThe Department are not in a position to entertain a claim for compensation in the case referred to. The hon. Member was informed to this effect in July last.
§ Mr. RUSSELLWe have no legal power to make compensation in such a case.
§ 44. Mr. PATRICK WHITEasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether the cordon drawn round Mullingar includes Crossakiel, in the Oldcastle Rural District; whether he is aware that he is aware that it is twenty miles from the centre of infection; and will he release it by limiting the cordon to a fifteen-mile radius?
§ Mr. RUSSELLCrossakiel is within the district scheduled by the Westmeath and District (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) Order of 1912. It is about seventeen and a half miles from an infected place. It is the practice of the Department on the occurrence of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease to schedule, in the first instance, an area having a radius of not less than fifteen miles from the centre of infection. This distance is not necessarily a maximum. It is not practicable to follow the fifteen-mile limit with mathematical accuracy, as natural boundaries, such as main roads or the boundaries of electoral Divisions, must be taken, and these necessarily vary somewhat in distance from the infected place. In view of the fact that a further outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed near Mullingar on the 5th instant, and that only a short time has elapsed since previous outbreaks, the Department are not prepared to contract at present the limits of the scheduled district.
§ 55. Mr. LARDNERasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if he will state how many veterinary surgeons have been employed by his Department in Ireland in connection with the recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, distinguishing between members of the veterinary staff of the Department and private practitioners; will he give the names of all veterinary surgeons so employed and state the amounts paid or due. to these gentlemen whether in respect of fees or expenses; will he state by what official of the Department local veterinary inspectors were selected; and in how many cases the local veterinary officer, under the Diseases of Animals Acts, was called in?
§ Mr. RUSSELLIn addition to their regular veterinary staff, the Department have at present twenty-four temporary veterinary inspectors employed in connection with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. They have also engaged from time to time, as circumstances require, forty-two local veterinary surgeons, thirty of whom hold appointments as inspectors for the local authorities under the Diseases of Animals Acts. The rate of remuneration allowed in such cases is a guinea a day and travelling expenses. These gentlemen are employed on the recommendation to the Secretary of the Department of the chief veterinary officer or, in his absence, the superintending veterinary inspector, and the final decision rests with 1424 the Vice-President or Secretary of the Department. The remainder of the information asked for cannot be given within the limits of a reply to a question, and would serve no useful public purpose.
§ Mr. LARDNERMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he is aware of the fact that the greatest dissatisfaction is felt in the veterinary profession in Ireland owing to the fact that local veterinary surgeons have been taken out of their own districts and sent into other districts to the detriment of their own practice?
§ Mr. RUSSELLI am afraid there is a very great deal of dissatisfaction among those who have not received appointments.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTIs the right hon. Gentleman able to say that all these forty-two private practitioners have experience and knowledge of the symptoms of this disease?
§ Mr. RUSSELLI am sure that the hon. Gentleman will feel that these forty-two men are not employed diagnosing the disease. They are employed giving licences to enable cattle to be moved.
§ Mr. LARDNERMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he will give a return showing the number of cases given to these inspectors.
§ Mr. RUSSELLIf it will serve any useful purpose, I will be very glad to give a return.
§ 56. Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland), whether he is now in a position to say what caused the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at Mullingar; whether he has any official information showing that the disease was planted for the purpose of continuing the embargo on Irish cattle, and thus helping foreign meat rings to operate more freely in English markets; and whether any vigilance is being exercised by the Department to prevent persons who may be in contact with this disease carrying the infection outside affected areas?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThe origin of the outbreak of foot and mouth disease at Mullingar has not yet been ascertained. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative. The most rigid measures are adopted by the Department for preventing the spread of disease from infected places.
§ Mr. FARRELLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the opinion stated in the first part of the question is held not only by the people in the district, but by the district inspectors?
§ Mr. RUSSELLSo far as the evidence is concerned it is wholly unfounded.
§ 57. Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland), if he will state when he proposes to relax the standstill Order on cattle in county Longford imposed in respect of the Mullingar outbreak; whether he is aware that, in consequence of the restrictions imposed at Edgeworthstown, which is one mile outside the radius, the people who had cattle housed when the Order came into force have had to keep them housed ever since, at loss to themselves and to the cattle, whilst those who had cattle in the fields have been compelled to keep them there in the inclement weather, giving trouble to keepers of milch cows and injuring these animals; and will he, in view of the fact that there has been no further outbreak at Mullingar, now restrict the area to say a ten mile radius, thus freeing county Longford, in which there is no disease, from the disabilities imposed by this Order?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThe Westmeath and District (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) Order imposes restrictions upon the movement of stock in the scheduled district, which includes Edgeworthstown. In view of the fact that a further outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurred at Mullingar on the 5th instant, and that only a short time has elapsed since the previous outbreaks, the Department are not prepared at present to consider the question of reducing the area of the scheduled district. Licences for necessary movements of animals within the district are granted by the Department's inspectors in those cases in which it is considered that movement can be safely allowed.
§ Mr. FARRELLMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether these licences must be granted to persons who desire to move their cattle in any case where the inclemency of the weather requires that that should be done?
§ Mr. RUSSELLEvery case must be treated according to the circumstances.
§ Mr. FARRELLIf this outbreak is confined to Mullingar, is it necessary to maintain the restriction one mile outside the district?
§ Mr. RUSSELLI am not prepared to say whether it is merely local or not. It would be very foolish indeed to say whether the disease is confined to Mullingar or not.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTIn view of the statement in the question that there has been no further outbreak in Mullingar, can the right hon. Gentleman give any further particulars of the outbreak which appears to have occurred yesterday?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Gentleman should give notice of the question.
§ 58. Viscount CASTLEREAGHasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether Mr. James Wood, of Belfast, was recently appointed to hold an inquiry relating to foot-and-mouth disease; if so, who appointed Mr. Wood; what remuneration has Mr. Wood received; whether Mr. Wood was appointed as an agriculturist; and, if so, what are his qualifications?
§ Mr. RUSSELLIn July last it was considered desirable that inquiry should be made on behalf of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction into the circumstances connected with the discovery at Liverpool of a bullock's head said to be affected with foot-and-mouth disease, and to have been shipped from Waterford. Mr. James Wood, solicitor, Belfast, was nominated by the Department to conduct this inquiry on their behalf in conjunction with another solicitor nominated by the British Board. Mr. Wood was not appointed as an agriculturist, but, like the representative of the British Board, as a lawyer trained in the testing of evidence.
§ Sir J. LONSDALEWhat is the amount of remuneration which Mr. Wood received for this particular office, and is this the Mr. Wood who formerly represented North Down in this House as the Russellite candidate?
§ Mr. RUSSELLNothing has yet been settled as to remuneration, but Mr. Wood did sit in this House for East Down, and not for North Down.
§ 59. Mr. LARDNERasked the right hon. Gentleman whether, in view of recent out breaks in Ireland, his Department have 1427 taken any steps to enable the members of the veterinary staff to study the disease under the most favourable conditions; and, if so, will he now state what members of the veterinary staff it is proposed should make these inquiries, and where such inquiries and study will be made?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThe Departmental Veterinary Inspectors to whom the duty of corroborating the existence of foot-and-mouth disease in each reported case is entrusted are well acquainted -with the diagnostic of the disease, and there is therefore no necessity for such action as is suggested.
§ Mr. LARDNERIs there no foundation for the rumour that the right hon. Gentleman proposes to send three members of his veterinary staff to study this question?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThere is not.
§ 61. Captain MURRAYasked the right hon. Gentleman whether he will consider the advisability of instituting a belt of buffer counties round the infected areas in Ireland, and of suggesting to the President of the Board of Agriculture that in the case of store cattle imported into Scotland from areas outside the belt the fourteen days' quarantine at the port of debarkation should be dispensed with?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThis question ought to be addressed to the President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, who alone has the responsibility of deciding the terms upon which cattle can be allowed into British ports. The Irish Department will be very willing to co-operate for the purpose in the way suggested by my hon. Friend. It is of importance, however, to bear in mind that the disease is now confined to one district—Mullingar, in Westmeath.
§ Mr. CHAPLINI wish to ask the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture for Ireland a question which he has intimated to me he is quite willing to answer: Has he any further information or any details to give with regard to the further outbreak at Mullingar to which he referred this afternoon?
§ Mr. RUSSELLOn the 5th, the day before yesterday, after a nine days' interval, there was one case, two miles from Mullingar. To-day I received the following telegram:—
Further outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease confirmed to-day, at Lynn, Mullingar, adjoining the place 1428 already declared infected. Two cattle affected by-disease. Thirteen in contact. All have been slaughtered.