426 THE CATTLE TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS. 
in the reception of foreign cattle into London, and stated 
that out of 125,000 beasts brought into the metropolis bst 
year, 35,000 only were landed at Thames Haven. The 
trade of that place was almost confined to cattle, and 
the Privy Council were able to put such restrictions on 
the traffic between it and London as would be utterly 
impracticable between Hull or Grimsby and the inland 
towns. After seeing the last deputations on the subject 
he tried his utmost to frame regulations with regard to 
those towns, but to obtain the required amount of security 
restrictions would have had to be made which might pos- 
sibly have been regarded by the inhabitants as a mere 
mockery, and have increased rather than decreased the 
price. The Privy Council would, he feared, be obliged to 
come to the same decision on the present application. The 
result of the cattle plague had been to create great fear lest 
the disease might be imported again, and the general prin- 
ciple of the Act of 1869 was to allow free entrance to cattle 
coming from countries free from the plague, and to cause 
all beasts^ from infected countries to be slaughtered at the 
port of London. Upon that principle he had always acted, 
and on a recent occasion he removed the restriction from a 
valuable import only when he found that it was safe to take 
such a step. (Hear, hear.) Holland had been free 
from the cattle plague for three years, and so also had 
several parts of Germany, but he had been unable to make 
arrangements with the Governments of the latter country, 
by which the importation of the dangerous Steppe cattle 
with the sound animals could be prevented. On the 
other hand, a law had been passed in Holland prohibiting 
the import of cattle there, and he thought, therefore, the 
export would be safe. It had been said, however, that this 
removal of the restriction would be of little or no importance; 
but as to that he must differ, seeing that in 1870 the 
cattle imported from the Netherlands numbered 76 , 323 , and 
from Germany 53 , 656 , while those from the whole of the 
unscheduled districts were 140,000 in number, and from the 
scheduled 53 , 000 . He believed that if Germany had been 
in a position to send larger numbers of cattle she would 
have done so, and he attributed the high price of meat, not 
to the restrictions imposed, but to the climate and weather 
of last year, and partly to the effects of the war. He felt 
convinced that if the restrictions were removed the Steppe 
cattle would be at once imported, and that the results would 
of necessity be most disastrous. In this matter Germany 
would not protect England even to the extent that she pro- 
