EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
21 
diseases in the future, unless long continuance of security- 
should lead ultimately to indifference and laxity. 
Routine and method are not in accordance with our 
national instincts; on the contrary, we feel rather disposed 
on all convenient occasions to set rules at defiance; but the 
benefits which are the direct consequences of a strict obedi¬ 
ence to the laws of health are so manifest, that it is not 
difficult to understand the change which has come over the 
agricultural mind, and which prompts those who three years 
since violently opposed the imposing of prohibitions upon the 
movement of stock, to tolerate and even suggest the idea of 
permanent legislation in reference to the cattle trade, English 
and foreign. It cannot he doubted, notwithstanding, that the 
state of the law in relation to cattle within the metropolis, 
is entirely unsatisfactory to producers of home-bred stock, 
and also to purchasers. There is nothing to be gained by 
the attempt to disguise or underrate the fact, that animals 
will command a better price when their movement is unre¬ 
stricted, than when they can only be driven within a confined 
space. Many exhibitors found the advantage of the change 
which was made in respect of the cattle in the Agricultural 
Hall, and the salesmen, instead of having to wait to the last 
in their endeavours to dispose of the animals committed to 
their charge, found no difficulty in getting rid of them quickly, 
and at remunerative prices; the extent of competition may be 
judged from the fact that nearly one-half of the cattle exhi¬ 
bited were sold to butchers residing at a distance from the 
metropolis. On the other side, it must not be forgotten that 
London as a cattle market will always occupy an exceptional 
position as the great focus to which animals from all parts, 
in various states of disease, will converge, and, if permitted, 
afterwards radiate, to the great injury of healthy stock. But 
irrespective of cattle plague and foreign cattle, the prevention 
of the removal of cattle out of the metropolitan district should 
be maintained on sanitary grounds; and there is great reason 
to fear that breeders of stock would hereafter regret the 
obtaining of the concession which they now so anxiously 
seek. The whole question of cattle traffic is being agitated, 
and it may be expected that a measure embodying the views 
of the agricultural community will be introduced to the 
