Monthly Council, December 9, 1914. xxxvii 



circulated, not only to the -Members of the Special Committee in the first 

 instance, but to every Member of ('ouncil before it was finally considered, 

 with a view to its ratification or rejection. He therefore would content himself 

 with moving : — 



"That the scheme prepared by the Chemical and Woburn Committee for the 

 future work of the Woburn Experimental Farm be received by the Council and 

 referred by them to the Special Committee for their consideration and report to 

 the Council at their meeting to be held on January 27, 1915, at which meeting 

 the question would be finally settled by the Council." 



The motion was unanimously adopted. 



Mr. Adeane enquired whether the scientific Members of the Special 

 Committee who were not Members of the Council would be allowed to vote ; 

 and, on the Duke of Devonshire stating that they should be asked to be present 

 to advise the meeting but not vote, this decision was confirmed by the Council. 



The Report of the Veterinary Committee having been read. Lord Strachie 

 moved that the part of the Report, which he said was in the form of a " vote 

 of censure " upon the Board of Agriculture in connection with the suspension 

 of the Sheep-dipping Orders, should be expunged. He did not intervene at 

 the meeting of the Veterinary Committee on the previous day when this 

 matter was discussed, because he was not then certain what was the reason of 

 this action of the Board, but he thought then that the Board of Agriculture 

 would have a good ex[)lanation of their action. He had since ascertained that 

 this impression was quite correct. These Sheep-dippiug Orders had been 

 simply suspended at the request of the Home Office or the Police, in view of the 

 exceptional pressure of work upon the Police at this particular time. Surely 

 the Council at such a time should be anxious to assist the Police and not blame 

 the Board of Agriculture for assenting to their request. 



Lord NORTHBROOK (Chairman of the Veterinary Committee) very much 

 deprecated the description that the paragraph in question was a vote of censure 

 on the Board of Agriculture, as it was certainly not the Committee's intention 

 to pass such a vote. 



Lord Strachie — intervening — said that any old Parliamentary hand knew 

 that to express regret in a resolution was equivalent to a vote of censure. 



Lord Northbrook, continuing, said it was so long since he was in the House 

 of Commons that he was afraid he was not up in Parliamentary procedure. In 

 any case, it was not their desire to censure the Board of Agriculture. 



He thought it was unfortunate that the Orders had been suspended, because 

 their working had been most satisfactory, reducing sheep scab to a lower point 

 than it had ever been before. From time to time strong representations had 

 been made to the Veterinary Committee to urge the Board of Agriculture to 

 take the opportunity to stamp out the disease, and by drastic action remove 

 sheep scab altogether from the country. It was extremely undesirable, if it 

 was possible to keep the Orders in force, that they should be put in abeyance. 

 They quite realised that the action of the Board in suspending the Tuberculosis 

 Order and the Parasitic Mange Order was necessary, owing to the veterinary 

 inspectors in the various counties now being employed in work for the War 

 Office in buying and inspecting horses. All that was necessary to carry out 

 the Sheep-dipping Orders was to give notice to the inspector, usually the police 

 constable in the neighbourhood, who was given the opportunity of being 

 present when the sheep were dipped. He could only say from experience in his 

 own county of Hampshire, a large sheep county, that there was a strong feeling 

 among farmers that it was a misfortune that the Orders had been suspended. 

 They had suffered severely from sheep scab in the past, and farmers hoped that 

 the Board would take every precaution to prevent it. He did not believe they 

 would have the slightest difficulty in working the Orders if enforced. He did 

 not know whether it had been done, and he had no knowledge of it having 

 been done, but he would suggest that, if it was thought desirable, the Board 

 might communicate with all Local Authorities and ascertain whether it was not 

 possible in the present state of affairs to put the Orders into operation again. 



