CANADIAN STORE CATTLE 53 



Speaker (Mr. J. W. Lowther) declined to accept the motion 

 " That the question be now put," so the debate was adjourned, 

 which, of course, meant that the Bill was killed. It was not 

 made a party question ; though, so far as could be gathered, 

 the support for the Bill came mainly from the Radical side 

 of the House. On the other hand, among its strongest 

 opponents were Sir Edward Strachey and Sir Courtenay 

 Warner, the latter making an excellent speech against it 

 in the second reading debate. The Chamber circulated the 

 following memorandum which the Secretary had prepared, 

 to every member of the House of Commons the day before 

 the debate took place, which is worth reproduction as it 

 gives the chief arguments against the repeal of the Act. 



FACTS TO BE REMEMBERED. 



FROM THE CONSUMERS' POINT OF VIEW. 



Freedom from the scheduled contagious diseases has tended 

 to keep down the price of home-grown meat. The feeling of 

 security from loss by disease has induced many hundreds of 

 farmers to become milk producers, with the result that increased 

 production has caused an abnormal increase in consumption, 

 and yet the price remains reasonably low. If an outbreak 

 occurred the quantity of meat in the market would be suddenly 

 decreased, and the fresh supply of milk, upon which hundreds of 

 thousands of children are being reared, would be cut off at the 

 fountain head, and the price would necessarily be raised to a 

 point beyond the reach of all but the wealthy. 



There is, moreover, the risk of milk being received in towns 

 from herds in which disease has not fully developed, or where 

 it has not been diagnosed and reported. This is by no means an 

 imaginary danger, for Foot and Mouth Disease may exist for 

 weeks before it is officially declared to be such. This actually 

 occurred in the United States in 1902, when an outbreak occurred 

 in Massachusetts in August, but was not reported to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture till 14th November, and was not officially 

 declared until 17th November. With the certain loss to the 

 individual and the expense entailed upon the locality and the 

 country, it is not surprising that outbreaks are not declared 

 until there is no possibility of mistake. 



That the quantity of meat available for consumption has not 

 been decreased by the restrictions now in force is shown by the 

 following imports of live and dead meat : 



