§ Sir T. Cookasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he has any statement to make on the position of foot-and-mouth disease in the county of Norfolk, with particular reference to the basis of compensation for animals slaughtered?
§ Mr. W. S. MorrisonThere have been 16 outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the county of Norfolk during the past three weeks and 873 cattle, 647 sheep and 569 pigs have been slaughtered in consequence. The compensation payable to the owners of these animals amounts to slightly more than £23,000. These outbreaks may be associated with the present heavy incidence of disease in Western Europe. The basis on which compensation is computed is laid down in Section 15 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, which prescribed that where the animal slaughtered was affected with the disease, the compensation shall be the value of the animal immediately before it became so affected, and in every other case the compensation shall be the value of the animal immediately before it was slaughtered.