50 CATTLE DISEASES 



Part (a), Sub-section (3) of Section 14 of the Diseases of Animals 

 Act, 1894, and that the Council shall also bear half of the reason- 

 able costs incurred in carrying out the purposes of Clause 34 : 

 and to provide that the value of a cow slaughtered by the Council, 

 whether diseased or not, shall be assessed by a valuer appointed 

 by the Board of Agriculture, and not by a veterinary surgeon." 



A statement was issued by the London County Council 

 stating that the Instruction imposed additional compensa- 

 tion of 50 per cent., but that was not so, for Sir Edward, 

 acting on the discretion given him, had stated in the Instruc- 

 tion that 50 per cent, was a maximum, not a minimum 

 percentage of compensation. Further, in moving the Instruc- 

 tion, he said that he was ready, if desired by the House, to 

 reduce the limitation to 25 or 20 per cent., or even less. The 

 Chairman of the Central Chamber, Mr. Beaumont, who wound 

 up the debate, offered to reduce the percentage to 10 per 

 cent, if Mr. Burns (who represented the London County 

 Council) would agree to the bacteriological examination of 

 the cow's milk before slaughter. Neither of these proposals 

 being accepted, a division was taken, and the Instruction 

 was lost by 195 to 57. 



The Police and Sanitary Committee, to which the Bill was 

 referred, conceded three of the four points in the Instruction, 

 notwithstanding the result of the division ; they would 

 not, however, give way in favour of a bacteriological examina- 

 tion in place of the clinical one proposed in the Bill. 



The Tuberculosis (Animals) Bill, promoted by the National 

 Federation of Meat Traders' Associations, with the object 

 of providing compensation to the owner of a carcase con- 

 demned after slaughter, and destroyed on account of tuber- 

 culosis, was supported by the Council on 29th March. The 

 Bill received a second reading, and was referred to a Select 

 Committee, which recommended that one-half the value 

 should be provided by the Imperial Exchequer, subject to 

 certain safeguarding conditions, and advised that this assist- 

 ance should not be given in the case of imported meat or 

 animals. The Bill was not, however, allowed to make further 

 progress. 



