70 CATTLE DISEASES 



sent by this Council met Mr. Runciman on 4th March, 

 and he then admitted that the experience gained by some 

 ten months' working of the Order showed that it needed 

 some amendment. Later in the year, when the new Tuber- 

 culosis Order was issued, most of the amendments asked for 

 were found to have been adopted. In July the Council wel- 

 comed these alterations, especially the abolition of the dual 

 valuation, and the payment of compensation on a more 

 generous scale. This Order came into operation on 1st July, 

 but was suspended on 6th August owing to the wai. The 

 number of bovine animals suffering from Tuberculosis, in 

 respect of which notice of intention to slaughter was 

 received for the twelve months commencing 1st May, 

 1913, the date when the original Order came into opera- 

 tion, was 7276. The main grievance of the cost of 

 administration, however, remains untouched, and the rural 

 ratepayers have to pay the expenses incurred in this connec- 

 tion for the benefit of the urban population. 



On 9th December the Council pointed out to the Local 

 Government Board that the Tuberculosis Order was sus- 

 pended, but that the Milk and Dairies Act (which was to be 

 administered collaterally with this Order) was due to come 

 into operation on 1st January, 1915. They asked, therefore, 

 that the Act should not be put into operation until circum- 

 stances permitted the reinstatement of the Tuberculosis 

 Order. On 18th December the Local Government Board 

 issued an Order postponing the date upon which the Act 

 should come into operation until 1st October, 1915. 



The Swine Fever problem was before the Council on several 

 occasions during the year, but while the Departmental 

 Committee were still prosecuting their investigations it was 

 found very difficult to suggest any changes in the methods of 

 administration adopted by the Board. Mr. H. R. Beetoii 

 (Chairman of the Berks and Oxon Chamber of Agriculture, 

 and of the National Pig Breeders' Association) took up the 

 question with great energy, and after a prolonged effort in 

 which he was supported by the Chambers and by other 

 Societies, he induced Mr. Runciman to agree to institute 



