Beport on Stcfpe Murrain or liinderpest. 235 



" 1st. That whenever there are reasons to suspect tlie existence of the pest 

 all diseases occurring among cattle shall be carefully A\atched, and when the 

 least doubt exists as to the nature of the affection the animal shall be killed, 

 and a post mortem examination made with a view of ascertaining as far as 

 possible the exact nature of its ailment. 



" (a) The disease having been declared suspicious by a medical officer duly 

 appointed for that purpose ; and 



" (b) The local authorities having been informed by the medical officer of his 

 opinion ; they shall jointly proceed to value the animal to be slaughtered, ac- 

 cording to the manner hereafter descrilied. 



" 2. Slaughtering is to be enforced in the Austrian dominions when the 

 rinderpest already prevails — 



" (a) At its outbreak in places which have hitherto been free from it. 



" (b) When the diseaseis well markedinitscharacters, symptoms, and duration, 

 or by its violence and destructiveness, and when also the police measures which 

 have been already taken have been without eifect in checking its progress, so 

 that there is a probability that either the malady by the slaughtering may be 

 suddenly brought to an end, or that its further spreading may be entirely or 

 jiartly prevented, to enable the communication between healthy and diseased 

 districts to be speedily re-established. 



" (c) The ultimate decision as to whether the slaughtering shall be enforced 

 when the certainty of the presence of the rinderpest has been decided on, and 

 to what extent it shall be carried, is to depend on the commissioners who 

 are appointed for that purpose, who, after having been duly informed of the 

 outbreak of the rinderpest or other disease of a suspicious nature, or the spread- 

 ing of the same in the infected communes, shall, conjointly with those who are 

 cliarged with the carrying out of the veterinary police regulations, and also, if 

 ■possible, with a medical officer acquainted with the disease, and two sworn 

 valuers, taken from the commune, who are well acquainted with the price of 

 farm-stock, first value the cattle which it has been decided to slaughter. A 

 special report is to be made of the proceedings to the competent authorities. 



" 3. With reference to the question by whom and in what manner the esti- 

 mated value is to be paid to the owner of the condemned cattle, and whether 

 it is ultimately to be paid by an order on theTreasury from the police authority 

 of the district — 



" (a) The owner will receive the full value ordered by the authorities, after 

 deduction has been made for the parts that may be used, as determined by 

 competent authorities, for the cattle which have been killed on suspicion imder 

 rule 1, with a view to ascertain if the disease was the rinderpest or not. 



" (b) For those cattle where no doubt exists as to the nature of the disease 

 being the rinderpest, and in those districts in the Austrian dominions which 

 are known to be infected. And when the slaughtering shall have been ordered 

 by the authorities, the owner shall only be entitled to receive the amount of 

 their value on condition that he has not neglected any of the precautions which 

 are prescribed by the veterinaiy police, and thereby contributed to the spread 

 of the infection among his stock, or has in no way concealed the disease after 

 the outbreak on his premises. 



" (c) Under the same circumstances of the existence of the disease, the sum 

 named by the valuers, after deducting the woith of the parts allowed to be 

 used, such as the skin and horns, when properly disinfected, will be paid for 

 every head of cattle killed by order of the commissioners. 



" (c?) With a view to facilitate those proprietors whose cattle have been 

 slaughtered by the commission for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of 

 the disease, and when it has been proved not to be the rinderpest, in replacing 



