Report on the Trade in Aiiiniah. 
225 
standing these precautions, the plague burst through the military 
cordon on two occasions, to a distance of not quite a mile each 
time. Altogether 4 animals died and 100 were killed in conse- 
quence of their contact, or supposed contact, with the diseased 
beasts. The last case of slaughter was on August 26tli, a 
little more than a month after the first case of Rinderpest was 
discovered ; and on September 18th the district was declared 
free from disease. Although more than three weeks had thus 
elapsed since the slaughter of the last suspected animal, the time 
was apparently not long enough for the destruction of the virus, as 
the Rinderpest was shortly afterwards said to have again appeared 
at Hamburg ; but I am not acquainted with the details of this 
fresh outbreak. 
The essential difTerences between the foregoing method of 
proceeding and our own will be at once recognised in the 
double cordon, the compulsory disinfection, and the slaughter 
of animals at the discretion of the authorities without their being 
put to the proof of " contact " of such animals with those that 
are known to have been affected with cattle-plague. The English 
law, on the other hand, enacts (Act, § 66) that "a local 
authority may, if they think fit, cause to be slaughtered any 
animal that has been in the same shed or stable, or in the same 
herd or flock, or in contact with any animal affected with cattle- 
plague within their district." Further, it is enacted (§ 69), that 
the compensation for the slaughter of animals under § 66, if the 
owner elects that the local authority shall dispose of the car- 
cases, shall be " such sum, not exceeding thirty pounds, as may 
equal three-fourths of the value of the animal slaughtered." 
But if the animal slaughtered is itself affected with cattle-plague, 
or with a disease suspected to be cattle-plague, then (§ 68) the 
compensation shall be " such sum, not exceeding twenty pounds, 
and not exceeding one-half of the value of the animal imme- 
diately before it was affected with cattle-plague, as to the local 
authority seems fit." 
The Act, therefore, imposes conditions which have a ten- 
dency to make farmers conceal cases of disease, in consequence 
of their inability to recover more than three-fourths of the value 
of the animal to the butcher (a mere trifle compared with the 
value of pedigree stock for breeding purposes). It also compels 
the ratepayers of affected districts who are not responsible for a 
disaster to pay for the negligence of those who ought to be so. 
For instance, the ratepayers of the East Riding of Yorkshire 
have recently had to pay for the negligence and bad arrangements 
of the authorities of Hull.* It therefore seems absolutely neces- 
* Vide tlie description of the arrangements at Hull, p. 228. 
