280 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
cattle of any kind are landed . If his memory fails him in 
this particular, he will find the editorial statement of the 
circumstance in the Journal for February 20th, 1871. Was 
this information obtained from a very reliable source , and do 
the authors of the hoax even now make merry over the 
success of their trick ? 
With the explanation which attributed the report of 
slaughter of diseased cattle in the Islington lairs to one 
of the salesman, the matter might well have ended ; but the 
Secretary to the Home Cattle Defence Association followed 
his account of the origin of the report by a letter to the 
Agricultural Gazette , in which he put the following query : — 
“ Is it a fact that on or about the 22nd of last month three 
cattle from Holland belonging to Mr. Kerdell were, by order 
of Mr. Rayment, Inspector at the Metropolitan Cattle Market, 
taken to a slaughter-house adjoining the lairs and there 
killed ? And if so, on what ground did Mr. Rayment order 
them to be slaughtered ?” 
It would seem that the question might consistently have 
been addressed to Mr. Rayment, who could have readily 
answered a question of so simple a kind ; however, with a 
desire to gain the required information, we applied to Mr. 
Rayment, and also to Mr. Kerdell, the owner of the cattle, 
and we have before us their replies. 
Mr. Rayment states that none of Mr. Kerdell’s cattle were 
condemned by him on any account ; that they were neither 
slaughtered nor removed from the lairs by his order. On the 
contrary, they were removed with the usual market passes 
by the butchers who bought them. 
Mr. Kerdell asserts that his cattle were inspected by Mr. 
Rayment while they were in the lairs, and that none of them 
were condemned by him, but all were sold in the usual 
manner. 
Further, in support of these statements we may add that 
we have seen the list of the names of the butchers who 
bought the animals. 
The editor of the Chamber of Agriculture Journal, in 
alluding to the possibility of Mr. Rayment and Mr. Kerdell 
denying the truth of the report of cattle having been killed 
