PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. 
249 
three years ; and nothing in this Act shall interfere with the author¬ 
ity of Her Majesty in Council or of the Privy Council to make 
regulations for subjecting foreign animals to quarantine and for 
allowing animals subjected to quarantine to be removed alive 
beyond the limits of the port of landing. 
13. This Act shall have full effect notwithstanding anything 
contained in any former Act, public, local, or private, and not¬ 
withstanding any charter, franchise, prescription, or right what¬ 
soever. 
14. Nothing in this Act shall invalidate or interfere with the 
operation of any order made before the passing of this Act by the 
Privy Council under the authority of section forty-six of The Con¬ 
tagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1867, and every such order shall 
continue to operate and may be revoked or altered as if this Act 
had not been passed. 
IMPORTATION OF POREIGN SHEEP AND CATTLE. 
Mr. Headlam asked whether the Government intended to take 
any steps to remove the obstacles that now impeded the importation 
of foreign cattle and sheep. 
Mr. W. E. Forster replied that he would first state to the House 
the exact position in which the importation of sheep was now placed. 
On Friday last an order in Council had been issued, and would take 
effect on Friday next, revoking an order issued on the 20th of 
August last; and consequently importation of sheep would be 
placed in the same position as before last August; that was, unless 
sheep arrived in the same vessel as foreign cattle, they might be 
landed at any port ; and if on examination they were found healthy, 
they might be removed or sold without restriction. If imported in 
vessels with foreign cattle, they would be subject to the same regu¬ 
lations as foreign cattle. When that order was issued, in August 
last, the sheep-pox was raging in Holstein, Schleswig, and in parts 
of Holland—countries from which they imported sheep. Since 
then the Government had received official information that the 
sheep-pox was extremely limited in Northern Germany, and had 
disappeared from Holland, and did not exist in countries from 
which they generally imported sheep. It was believed to exist in 
Italy and Russia, but that was comparatively unimportant, as the 
importation of sheep from those countries was very small. Since 
October, 1868, no case of sheep-pox has been detected in any 
foreign sheep coming to this country ; and, taking into account the 
fact that in North Germany the Government regulations were very 
stringent, and that a cordon was drawn round the infected places, 
and also the fact that the importation of sheep had been largely 
diminished during the operation of that order, they felt that the 
