Lieut-Colonel MURRAYasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware that, in connection with the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at Lumsdaine, Coldingham, a week elapsed between notification of the disease and cremation of the carcases, and that during this period lambs were allowed to lie about unburied; if he will explain why, seeing that the settled policy of the Government is to slaughter, slaughtering was suddenly suspended, after 160 Border Leicester and Oxford ewes and 110 lambs had been slaughtered, when the outbreak spread to 26 cattle, 53 pigs, and 530 Cheviot ewes on the same farm; whether he will state the reasons for attempting curative treatment on a farm of 1,600 acres amongst Cheviot ewes just beginning to lamb, and if the tenant will be compensated for losses the same as if slaughter had been carried out; and whether, in view of the risk of the disease spreading to other stock in the district, he will have immediate inquiry made into the whole matter?
Sir A. BOSCAWENThe outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at Lumsdaine, Coldingham, was first dealt with by 2057W officers of the local authority, and the delay which occurred in the Ministry's officers assuming control was due to some extent to the refusal of the owner to agree to the valuer's valuation of the stock, which, in the Ministry's opinion, was a high one. There was no delay in disposing of the carcases of animals which the Ministry caused to be slaughtered when its officers officially took over the control of the outbreak from officers of the local authority. From the commencement the Ministry considered this outbreak was one which might be dealt with by methods of isolation, but having regard to the fact that only a small proportion of the sheep concerned were found to be affected in the first instance, it was thought possible that a limited amount of slaughter might save the rest of the stock from infection. In the event of this measure not being attended with success, it was not contemplated that the remainder of this highly priced stock should be slaughtered. The attempt to eradicate disease quickly from these premises was not successful, and the Ministry accordingly proceeded with its original intention of isolating the remainder of the stock, or has been done in several other parts of Great Britain. In this connection I should point out that the policy of the Ministry is not exclusively one of slaughter. The Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, does not permit of the expenditure of public money with the object of relieving individuals of loss arising from the appearance of foot-and-mouth disease amongst their herds. The power to slaughter animals in connection with foot-and-mouth disease is conferred on the Ministry by the Act solely in order to compensate the individual in respect of any animals which the Ministry decides should be slaughtered in the public interest. While the Ministry endeavours to deal, by the method of slaughter, with each invasion of disease as it occurs, it has always kept in mind that a time might arrive when, owing to the value of the herds concerned—either from quality or the number of animals involved—the amount of money needed to continue exclusively the policy of slaughter might be so large that in the public interest the Government would have to decline to meet it. I do not think therefore that a special enquiry into this case is necessary.