1150 FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE PROSECUTIONS. [MAR., 



Welsh, or Australian seed, was so weak that no proper records 

 could be obtained. 



In addition to the Immunity Trials proper, the Ministry, in 

 continuance of its past policy, again accepted small quantities 

 of seedlings from breeders for testing to provide quick informa- 

 tion as to the susceptible ones. 



****** 



Prosecutions under Foot-and-Mouth Disease Orders.— A case 

 was heard at the Bromley Police Court on 9th January, arising out of the 

 Order of the Minister of Agriculture prohibiting the movement of animals in a 

 part of Kent on account of the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at 

 Sevenoaks. Two bullocks and 11 sheep had been sent by railway from 

 Islington Cattle Market to Beckenham Station, and thence to the premises of 

 a Beckenham butcher, thus being moved by road in the prohibited area contrary 

 to the Order. 



The Kent County Council instituted proceedings against the owner of the 

 animals, and also the two railway companies who accepted the animals for 

 conveyance to a destination within the prohibited area. Convictions were 

 obtained, and the owner was fined £10 and £2 2s. costs, and the railway 

 companies £10 and £5 respectively with £2 2s. costs in each case. 



Whenever a case of foot-and-mouth disease occurs, and an Order prohibit- 

 ing the movement of animals is made, the Order is at once published, and all 

 the railway companies and other persons directly concerned are notified in 

 order to stop the movement of animals in the locality at the earliest possible 

 moment. This is essential to p*-event the risk of a widespread dissemination of 

 the disease, and slockowners or other persons who break the regulations bear 

 a grave responsibility in view of the disastrous results which might follow 

 from their actions. 



At Middlesboro Police Court on 10th February, two offenders were prosecu- 

 ted for neglecting to deliver up movement licences for pigs and cattle, and 

 were fined £5 and £10 respectively, with costs in each case. All movement 

 licences granted under the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Orders are required to be 

 delivered up to the local police after the movement is completed. Unless this 

 is done the authorities would not be able to maintain proper check on the 

 movements in a scheduled area. 



Eradication of Rabies in Great Britain.— By an Order which 

 was made by the Ministry on 30th January, the remaining muzzling and 

 movement restrictions imposed in great Britain on account of rabies, viz., those 

 in force in Hampshire and Wiltshire, were finally removed as from 6th Feb- 

 ruary, no case of rabies having occurred in those areas, nor in any other part 

 of Great Britain, since 7th June, 1921. 



In view of the freedom of the whole country from rabies for a period of 

 eight months, the Ministry has every reason to believe that the disease has 

 been entirely eradicated. After 16 years of freedom from rabies in the United 

 Kingdom, the disease was re-introduced at Plymouth in the summer of 1918 



