I907J 



Diseases of Animals Acts. 



i73 



ment in the position both in Kent and in Worcestershire being 

 very marked. In two counties the figures were exactly equal 

 in both those years, leaving 29 counties in which the outbreaks 

 in 1906 exceeded those in 1905. In many of these the actual 

 increase was slight, but in several it was very marked, 

 predominantly so in Suffolk and in the East Riding of Yorkshire. 



That the epidemics in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire 

 in the spring of the year, and in East Suffolk in the spring 

 and again in the late autumn, have not, so far at any rate, 

 been followed by a wide distribution of the disease is a matter 

 for considerable satisfaction. The existence over the country 

 generally of precautionary regulations affecting the movement 

 of swine from district to district must, it is thought, be accepted 

 as the main cause for this comparatively satisfactory state of 

 affairs. Had the movement of swine, out of Suffolk, for instance, 

 been free and unfettered, it is hardly to be believed that disease 

 would not have been scattered broadcast before its centres in 

 that county had been fully detected. From Suffolk store swine 

 are distributed to all parts of Great Britain, and it is not 

 difficult to imagine what disastrous results in other districts 

 might have followed therefrom had no safeguards been in 

 existence. 



In combating a disease like swine-fever Mr. Anstruther 

 observes that it is probably inevitable that fluctuations should 

 be experienced, and when one considers how easily the disease 

 may be spread throughout a locality by the exposure of infected 

 swine at a market, or by the introduction of the disease upon 

 the premises of a pig-dealer, it would be unwise to lay too great 

 stress upon the mere rise in the number of outbreaks recorded. 

 The real test of the possibility of ultimate success lies in the 

 success, or otherwise, of the measures adopted to control the 

 disease, and to search out the disease centres. Judged by this 

 test the results of the operations conducted during last year 

 are not, it is submitted, entirely unsatisfactory. Provided that 

 pig-owners and pig-dealers will consent to co-operate heartily 

 with the authorities, there appear no good grounds for doubting 

 that the ground lost will ultimately be regained. 



The Report also contains information as to the work of the 

 Division in relation to other matters, as well as statistical tables 

 showing the prevalence of disease and the imports and exports 

 of live stock. 



