§ Order of the Day for the Consideration of the Commons' Amendments to the Bill read.
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONsaid, that the Bill came back to their Lordships in much the same shape as it left them, and he hoped they would accept it in its present form, with the Amendments made by the Commons. In his opinion, they seemed to have amended the Bill in the sense in which it was sent down from their Lordships' House, and had carried out the alterations he had suggested. He trusted that his noble Friend opposite ("Lord Carlingford) would carry out the provisions of the measure with stringency and vigour, and that the Bill would be successful in the object at which it was directed; indeed, so much so, that in no long period cattle disease would be unknown in the country.
§ LORD CARLINGFORD (LORD PRESIDENT of the COUNCIL)said, he had hoped that the Bill would have come back to their Lordships' House in the form in which it was originally introduced; but that had not been the case, 147 He was glad, however, to hear the way in which the noble Duke opposite (the Duke of Richmond and Gordon) had received the Commons' Amendments, and to find that the conciliatory spirit of the other House had enabled a satisfactory arrangement to be arrived at. He could not, however, agree with the noble Duke that the Bill was the same as it was when it left their Lordships. In his view, the words of the 1st clause, as they now stood amended by the Commons, undoubtedly left the Privy Council considerably greater discretion as to the working of the measure. He hoped it would have the desired effect. There was, happily, little foot-and-mouth disease in the country, and for the last six months there had not been a single case imported. What they now wanted, and what he hoped the Council would have, was the hearty co-operation of local authorities in stamping out the disease.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYsaid, he fully concurred in the closing phrase of the speech of the noble Lord opposite (the Lord President); but he hoped that it meant that the noble Lord would impress upon the local authorities the necessity of stamping out the disease as soon as it appeared in any district. He was glad to see the Amendments made in the Bill; but he could not agree with the noble Lord that the 1st clause, as amended, enlarged the discretion of the Privy Council. On the contrary, he took the same view of it as that taken by the noble Duke near him (the Duke of Richmond and Gordon), that the clause as it now stood was even more stringent than it was when it left their Lordships' House.
§ Commons' Amendments considered accordingly, and agreed to.