MODEL MILK CLAUSES 45 



In connection with the Taunton Bill Mr. E. Strachey 

 (afterwards Lord Strachie) arranged a conference, at which 

 Mr. T. W. Russell (Parliamentary Secretary to the Local 

 Government Board) presided, and the Central Chamber and 

 other bodies were represented, and a new clause was added 

 to the Model Clauses, which allowed a dairyman to appeal 

 against an Order of the Corporation to the Board of Agri- 

 culture. All the Acts passed this year which contained the 

 Model Clauses had this new clause inserted. 



The Chamber was chiefly indebted to the late Mr. A. F. 

 Jeffreys, M.P. (Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee), 

 for the energy he showed in getting these clauses inserted, 

 uniformly, in all these Bills in the years 1899-1900 and 1901. 

 After that Sir Edward Strachey (who succeeded Mr. Jeffreys 

 as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee) took immense 

 trouble to ensure this uniformity for some five or six years. 



The position taken up by the Chambers on this question 

 was perhaps most clearly stated in the Annual Report for 

 1905, when the following paragraph was inserted : 



" Your Council wish again to express their decided opinion 

 that no alteration of the Model Milk Clauses by private legislation 

 ought to be allowed, but that they should be adhered to without 

 modification or extension until the Government is prepared to 

 deal with the whole question of Tuberculosis in a general Act. 

 In making this statement, the necessity of safeguarding the 

 Public Health is not overlooked, and, so far from wishing to 

 oppose any necessary and general restrictions, they are anxious 

 to assist any reasonable measures tending in that direction ; 

 but they strongly object to piecemeal legislation, to unreasonable 

 interference, and to any loss and inconvenience being incurred 

 by farmers, on behalf of the public, without compensation." 



A series of outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease occurred 

 this year, the first since 1894. The Board, by a vigorous 

 policy of isolation and slaughtering of all affected and in- 

 contact animals, succeeded in stamping it out bv April, 

 1901. 



A further resolution was adopted by the Council on 6th 

 November, urging the Board to obtain the necessary legis- 

 lative powers to order the compulsory dipping of sheep in 

 order to eradicate Scab. 



