REPORT ON THE TRANSIT OF STOCK. 487 



For diseases induced by privation, remedies must be found by 

 providing better accommodation for the animals ; and having in 

 the preceding sections given suggestions in detail for the accom- 

 plishment of this object, we need only here enumerate the chief 

 items required. They are proper food, rest, and shelter for stock 

 travelling by road ; shelter, ventilation, food, and water by sea ;. 

 and shelter, with ventilation, food, and water by rail. And were 

 stockowners only properly alive to their own interests in this 

 matter, means of remedying these evils would be found, of one 

 sort or another, and that ere long. 



The next question that arises in connection with this subject 

 is, What ought to be done with animals taken in disease in 

 transit ? First, We suggest that a rule be definitely settled what 

 diseases shall — having consideration to the exigencies of transit, 

 and to the practical value of medical treatment, and also risks 

 of infection — be considered as warranting and requiring the de- 

 struction of the animal affected, together with the placing of its 

 companions in quarantine, or also their destruction. That even 

 the last alternative may be necessary in extreme cases, we believe 

 the cattle plague has sufficiently established. Secondly, What 

 diseases may be considered as requiring the quarantine of the af- 

 fected individual and its companions, and apply them accordingly. 

 Then let the application of such regulations be placed in the 

 hands of the police, under the authority of the magistrates, who- 

 shall grant the necessary order, on the certificate of a duly 

 qualified veterinary surgeon. With such a system quarantine 

 grounds would be required ; and although the establishment of 

 these might be a serious difficulty, yet the necessity for them is- 

 great ; and as they would only be needed at considerable dis- 

 tances apart, probably only near the towns, they might be got. 



As a necessary consequence of these regulations, the question 

 arises, On whom would fall the loss for animals slaughtered 

 or quarantined ? We believe there can be only one reply, viz., the 

 owner. Since the days of the cattle plague stockowners have 

 come to regard the destruction of their animals— when attacked 

 by disease — by the government as a matter for which the public 

 should pay ; but as we are now considering regulations applicable 

 rather to the ordinary stock traffic of the country than to the 

 prevalence of an epidemic amongst stock amounting to a great 

 national calamity, we believe that the special reasons for com- 

 pensation which may exist in the latter case do not apply. 

 Disease in this case is equivalent simply to the decay and 

 deterioration to which all things are liable. Merchandise of 

 every kind has in it some element peculiar to itself, that sooner 

 or later would reduce its value or destroy it altogether, and the 

 merchant's ordinary profit must cover this drawback, as well as- 

 include the other elements which regulate the price of the com- 



