§ 4. Mr. ORDE-POWLETTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, in view of the loss and hardship caused by the slaughter of swine in this country, he will conduct further inquiries as to the result of the serum treatment for swine fever in foreign countries, with a view to its adoption here in place of indiscriminate slaughter?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANIf the hon. Member will refer to the Second Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on Swine Fever published last week (Cd. 7247), he will see that the experiments made with serum in other countries have already been very carefully investigated on behalf of the Board. Similar experiments are to be made without delay on infected premises in this country, and at the same time the Board will continue to keep themselves regularly informed of any new developments abroad.
§ 5 and 6. Mr. PETOasked the President of the Board of Agriculture (1) the total amount of money spent during the past twenty years to the end of 1913 in the attempt to stamp out swine fever; whether he can give any estimate of the cost to farmers; what measure of success has been obtained hitherto in stamping out swine fever; and what prospect there is, if any, of success on present lines; and (2) in view of the fact that in 1894 in the county of Wiltshire there was the highest record of outbreaks of swine fever, 256, and in 1908 the number of outbreaks were 227, in 1911 the, number of outbreaks were 210, and in 1912 the number of outbreaks were 219, whether he can state the total number in 1913; and whether, in view of the fact that there is practically no diminution due to the action of his Department during the last twenty years, he proposes to continue the existing restrictions, or adopt some other method of dealing with this epidemic in future?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANIt is impossible to say what proportion of the expenses incurred in the administration of the Diseases of Animals Acts can be assigned to work in connection with swine fever, or to estimate the amount of loss suffered by farmers. The number of outbreaks in Wiltshire during the year 1913 was 177. Although the total number of outbreaks in Great Britain last year was 2,573 as compared with 2,920 in 1912, the results of 553 the Board's policy in dealing with swine fever have up to the present been disappointing, and the Departmental Committee, over which the hon. Member for the Rye Division presides, has agreed, after careful examination of all the available evidence, that experiments may now be tried with a serum treatment on infested premises. Arrangements have been made for carrying out these experiments without delay, but in view of the very uncertain results of similar experiments in other countries no general change in the Board's policy can be contemplated at present.
§ Mr. PETOConsidering the vast number of cases of swine fever and the expense of administration, would it not be possible to keep the expense of dealing with this disease separate from that in connection with other diseases of animals?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe expense incurred with reference to swine fever can be kept separate as far as compensation is concerned, but it is quite impossible to say how much of the expense of the salary of inspectors should be attributed to swine fever and how much should be attributed to other things.