566 VETERINAEY HYGIENE 



a local authority not insisting on the destruction of the 

 diseased animals, but by closing the premises, they thus 

 compel the owner to carry it out. Compensation out of the 

 local rates can only be claimed when the authorities think 

 Jit with the consent of the owner, to cause the diseased 

 animal to be destroyed. All this of course is utterly bad 

 legislation and defeats its object. 



Compensation if given must be Imperial, and not taken 

 out of local rates. One quarter the value of the animal in 

 health is too little, if compensation is necessary it should be 

 one half. Compensation should only be given for animals 

 not clinically diseased. 



McFadyean has estimated that compensation on the 

 basis of half value, viz., £20, would cost the State £400,000 

 in the first year, and £100,000 in the second year, an 

 expenditure that no Chancellor of the Exchequer could 

 regard with a light heart. 



It seems quite fair to expect from horse owners a certain 

 amount of self-help. Why, for instance, do they not 

 insure their horses against loss, in which case they would 

 only have to look to the State for good and effective laws 

 and not for money ? 



It should be possible until glanders is exterminated to 

 place a tax on all horses, and use the money thus obtained 

 for the purpose of getting rid of the disease. In this way 

 the tax and the benefits would be solely confined to the 

 horse-owning public, and not fall on the ratepayer who 

 feels completely indifferent whether glanders exists or not, 

 so long as it does not affect his food bill. Such legislation 

 as this should be regarded in the light of an insurance and 

 not a taxation. 



If horse owners are seriously anxious to get rid of this 

 disease a determined attempt at self-help might meet with 

 State assistance, especially in the case of the smaller 

 proprietors. But anxious as we are to see the disease 

 extinguished, it is only fair to the Imperial purse that 

 some indication should be given by owners of a real desire 

 to get rid of glanders, and this should be shown not only by 



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