§ 67 and 70. Mr. FETHERSTONHAUGHasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) (1) whether it is certain that the lesions found in the heads shipped from Derry to Glasgow were those of foot-and-mouth disease; is he advised that they were certainly so, and not caused by the same disease that was discovered in the Armagh case; were the feet found of the cattle to which the heads belonged; and, if so, were they examined and with what result; and is he now in a position to remove the restrictions from North Fermanagh, South Donegal, and Derry city; and (2) when and where was the last authentic case of foot-and-mouth disease in Ireland; are his officials and he himself satisfied that the supposed outbreaks of which the animals stopped at Birkenhead and the heads found at Glasgow were held to be evidence were, in fact, false alarms caused by over-precaution at the ports; and will he state the evidence as to the Glasgow heads as he did in reference to the Birkenhead cases traced to county Armagh?
§ Mr. T. W. RUSSELL (Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture, Ireland)The last confirmed outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurred on the 7th November at Lynn, near Mullingar, county West-meath. The cattle stopped at Birkenhead, which were shipped from Newry and the three heads sent from Derry to Glasgow, presented appearances such as called for investigation. The Department's veterinary advisers consider that the conditions seen in the Glasgow heads and in the animals stopped at Birkenhead are the same as those shown by the Armagh eases, which are not cases of foot-and-mouth disease.