REPORT OX THE TRANSIT OF STOCK. 485 



be hard indeed to find, yet, looking at the experience gained 

 during the cattle plague, there appears good reason to hope that 

 some of the measures then applied might, if adopted as per- 

 manent regulations, be most beneficial in checking this mischief. 



Taking these as a pattern, we recommend, as a first step, the 

 enactment of a law, that all stock shall be provided with cer- 

 tificates of health previous to being moved over any public road 

 or in any public conveyance ; that these certificates shall con- 

 tain a description of the stock, the route to be followed, and its 

 destination ; and that they shall be signed by the owner, and also 

 by an authority competent to judge of the state of health of the 

 animals. 



Here arises the first difficulty, how is the " competent autho- 

 rity" necessary to such a system to be achieved ? During the 

 prevalence of cattle plague, this authority was constituted 

 variously (see Vict. 29, cap. 2, and the various Orders in 

 Council on the subject) ; but without following these in detail, 

 we sketch from them the outline of an authority both practicable 

 and probably sufficient. 



First, A declaration, signed by the owner, setting forth the 

 number, description, route, and destination of the animals ; that 

 the animals have been (at least) four weeks in his possession, 

 and are in health ; and that no disease has been on his premises 

 for the three months preceding the date of the declaration. 



Secondly, A declaration, signed by two tenant-farmers, each 

 paying an annual rent of more than L.100, attesting, after inspec- 

 tion, the truth of the owners declaration, both declarations to be 

 enforcable by suitable penalties for fraud or non-compliance. 



Let this certificate be carried along with the stock, and be made 

 forthcoming to the inspection of the police or any stock owner. 

 AVhen stock are taken to market and there sold — over and over 

 again perhaps — let the certificate be simply endorsed by each 

 successive purchaser. When the lots are divided, let an attested 

 copy of the original certificate be given with each part of the lot. 

 Further, we recommend that every public market-place should be 

 licensed, and placed under the authority of a cpialified veterinary 

 inspector, whose duty it would be to examine the certificate of 

 all stock as it entered, stamping them with the name of the 

 market-place, [date, &c. The benefit of a system such as this 

 would be the greatest possible facility in tracing a lot of animals 

 through any number of hands and places up to their original 

 starting-point, and thus reaching the real offender in cases of 

 diseased animals. It would also in great measure stop the 

 movement of animals from places where disease has broken out. 

 Nothing is more common than for farmers, among whose stock 

 a serious disease has appeared, to send to market the whole of 

 the apparently healthy animals — too often proving, however, to 



