evinced by owners to report outbreaks of the ciisease 

 slaughter of their horses •? • 



- Tested. 

 1902-3 1,062 



1903-4 •■ 1,387 



1904-S ■■4>899' 



190S-6 •■•3,957 



•(to March 31) . 



1906-7 .4,200 



(to Aug. 31st) 



and to permit the 



Inclusive of 

 Manitoba 



850 



946 



502 



Total 15,505 4,875 5,164 2,713 



In considering these figures'! desire particularly to draw-your attention 

 to the large increase, not only in the numbers of those tested and killed as 

 reactors, but of those showing clinical symptoms. These figures furnish incon- 

 testable evidence that the present system brings to light a very large number 

 of cases of Glanders, which, without provision for payment of compensation, 

 would never have been reported. ' ' 



Under the conditions formerly existing, there was a tendency on the part 

 of owners, and doubtless of ' some veterinarians, to avoid trouble and loss 

 by concealing the existence of Glanders. Where no compensation is paid 

 many owners, otherwise quite respectable, are undoubtedly in the 'habit' of 

 allowing clinically affected cases to run their course, working them as long as 

 possible, and finally either permitting them to die or having them quietly 

 destroyed; while those less honest or more unprincipled have no hesitation in 

 subjecting them to palliative treatrnentj with a view to removing or concealing 

 suspicious symptoms, and subsequently disposing of them to the best 

 advantage. 



I am satisfied that the systeni now followed in Canada will, by removing 

 • temptation, prove efifective in overcohiing, at least to a very large extent, these 

 tendencies shown 'by depraved human nature under less favourable circum- ^ 

 stances. - 



It is interesting to note the manner in which the new regulations are 

 received in differeilt parts of the Dominion. In distiricts where the disease has 

 prevailed to any considerable extent and where horse owners reahze its serious 

 nature and the importance of stamping jt out, the new order of things is 

 heartily welcomed. On the other hand, in places where the people are com-' 

 paratively unfamiliar- with Glanders, the new regulations are looked upon as 

 unnecessarily severe, and people complain bitterly that their horses are being 

 slaughtered withoutgood and sufficient reason. The claim is made that our 

 Inspectors destroy more horses than the disease itself would ever be likely to 

 kill, ,the argument being advanced that only a very limited number of horses 

 die from Glanders under ordinary conditions, and that the ^isease seldom or 

 never becomes epizootic. 



Facts, however, are entirely against this contention. The figures already 

 quoted from the returns of the Board of Agriculture of Great Britain indicate 



