§ Sir WILLIAM COLLINSasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether any investigations have been conducted by the Board with a view to ascertain whether the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Edinburgh in 1908, attributed to infected hay from the Netherlands, was traceable to the same causes which the United States Department of Agriculture now assert (Circular 147) to be responsible for the extensive outbreaks of that disease in the States in 1902–3 and in 1908?
§ Sir E. STRACHEY:The most exhaustive inquiries were made as to the cause of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Edinburgh in 1908, with the result that it was found that the evidence that it was attributable to infected hay was very strong indeed. There was nothing whatever to suggest that the disease might have been introduced by means similar to those which are believed to be responsible for the outbreak in the United States in 1908.
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