492 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Horses suffering with glanders the law says must be killed, but 

 the owner is not entitled to compensation unless the animal is 

 found healthy on post-mortem. In addition to glanders and tuber- 

 culosis, the diseases which we may meet with are outbreaks of 

 rabies and hog cholera; and possibly Texas fever, during the 

 summer months, might be imported into the State, although the 

 danger of this is slight. 



The Board of Cattle Commissioners has for the last three or 

 four years required all neat cattle brought into the State, over six 

 months old, unless for immediate slaughter, to be tested with 

 tuberculin. This requires the granting of permits from this office 

 for people who wish to bring in cattle from without the State ; 

 also it is necessary that some member shall be at Somerville, 

 Watertown and Brighton two or three days during the week, 

 while markets are being held there. The testing of these cattle 

 and requiring people to have permits to bring cattle into the State 

 is not a matter of general law, but it is one of the rules and regu- 

 lations of the Board of Cattle Commissioners. 



The act providing for the compensation of the Cattle Commis- 

 sioners is chapter 378 of the Acts of 1885, which reads: "The 

 compensation of such commissioners shall not exceed five dollars 

 a day for actual service, in addition to their travelling expenses 

 necessarily incurred." It further says that: "The Board of 

 Cattle Commissioners, appointed under chapter 378 of the Acts 

 of 1885, shall perform the duties previously performed by the 

 Board of Cattle Commissioners which existed until the end of 

 September, 1885." I have not looked up the laws under which 

 the Board was appointed prior to Oct. 1, 1885, or their duties 

 prior to that time. 



The Legislature this year has passed a bill appropriating 

 $10,000 to reimburse towns, whose valuation is less than two 

 and one-half million dollars, for one-half the amount of expense 

 incurred in compensating inspectors of animals and provisions. 

 The present Legislature has also passed an act, approved May 

 23, 1898, saying that the work of preventing the spread of con- 

 tagious diseases among domestic animals shall be performed, 

 and the appropriation therefor be expended, by local inspectors 

 acting under the direction of the Cattle Commissioners as far as 

 possible. Section 2 of this same act provides that the Board of 

 Cattle Commissioners may issue rules and regulations for the 

 guidance of inspectors of animals and provisions in the inspection 

 of meat. 



The Legislature also appropriated $20,000 for the current ex- 

 penses of the Cattle Commission until such time as they decided 



