No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 415 



pay the owner or any otlier person an equitable sum for the killing 

 and burial thereof, and ma}' also pay a reasonable sum for the ani- 

 mal destroyed, should it ai)pear by post-mortem examination or other 

 wise that said animal was free from the disease for which it was con- 

 demned. 



Under this law of 1893, which specifically included tul3er- 

 culosis as among contagious diseases, the entire work of the 

 commission in this matter was in response to calls from the 

 local inspectors to examine animals which were reported as 

 quarantined, suspected of being diseased. In this way it con- 

 demned as tuberculous 529 animals, for which no compensation 

 was paid to the owner. Since the passage of the act of 1894 the 

 commission has approved the payment for 810 cattle, condemned 

 and destroyed as tuberculous, in the total sum of $15,280.45, 

 making an average payment of $18.86 per head. As this was 

 simply the payment of one-half of the value for milk or beef 

 purposes, which had either been agreed upon or valued by arbi- 

 trators, as provided in the act, it means that the total actual 

 value for milk or beef purposes of these animals was $37.72, 

 and that the dift'erence between this value and that paid by the 

 State, on the theory that the animals at the time of slaughter 

 are worth to the owner their value for milk or beef purposes, 

 has been borne by the owner of the animals destroyed. 



This section of the law of 1894 is somewhat restricted in 

 the matter of the payment of compensation, and, as this com- 

 mission has experienced in its application in the field more or 

 less misunderstanding as to its meaning, and under what cir- 

 cumstances the owner receives compensation, it feels that it 

 should make an explanation as to the construction placed upon 

 it by the commission in practice. 



It must be remembered, as before stated, that prior to the 

 passage of this act no compensation under any circumstances 

 was paid to the owner for animals destroyed as affected with 

 anv of the contagious diseases mentioned in the act. 



The act of 1894 leaves the law, in all cases except tuberculo- 

 sis, unchanged ; and therefore, in case of animals destroyed as 

 affected with any of the other diseases mentioned in the act, 

 there is no appraisal, and the owner receives from the Com- 

 monwealth no compensation ; as, for instance, in the case of a 

 horse destroyed as affected with glanders or farcy, no discretion 



