314 
rARLTAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. 
read a second time that day six montlis. Tlie Government had 
introduced what might fairly be regarded as a complete measure— 
whether it was a well-devised one or not—upon the subject, and the 
course which a private member ought to pursue was to endeavour 
to make that measure as perfect as possible. He believed that the 
passing of the Bill proposed by the noble lord, and its subsequent 
reference to a select committee, could only have the effect of delay¬ 
ing the settlement of a question wdiich it was necessary they should 
deal with at the earliest possible moment. The Bill of the noble 
lord would establish as a universal and permanent rule the principle 
of separate markets at wdiich the animals imported should be 
slaughtered, while the Government measure wmuld allow foreign 
cattle to be introduced into our general markets under ordinary 
circumstances, but would, at the same time, invest the Privy 
Council with large powers of excluding such cattle whenever they 
might think that mode of proceeding desirable. It appeared to 
him that the free circulation of cattle from abroad was, as a general 
rule, the true principle of legislation upon the subject, and that the 
establishment of separate markets as advocated by the noble lord, 
however it might be disguised, would be a return to the system of 
protection. It was clear that the latter arrangement must act as a 
check on the importation of cattle from such countries as Spain and 
Portugal, in which the rinderpest had never made its appearance, 
and that it must so far tend to raise the price paid for meat by the 
English consumer. He earnestly hoped that the House would 
proceed without delay to legislate upon the subject, and that they 
would for that purpose take up at the earliest possible moment the 
Government Bill, into which measure the noble lord could, if he 
thought proper, introduce his proposal in the shape of amendments 
in committee. He .moved as an amendment, that the Bill be read 
a second time this day six months. 
Mr. Norwood seconded the amendment. The Bill of the noble 
lord, he said, dealt with only a portion of the question, and the 
measure which had been introduced by the Government w'as of a 
much more complete character. He could state that since the year 
18G5 the importation of foreign cattle into Hull had greatly de¬ 
creased, and he believed that it had decreased in consequence of 
the restrictions to wdiich it had been subjected. He wmuld remind 
the House that it would be impossible to remove into the interior 
the offal of cattle slaughtered at a port, and that in the summer 
months meat of any kind could not be safely carried any distance. 
He objected to any permanent restrictive system in the case, which 
could only have the effect of limiting our supply of food from 
foreign countries. 
Mr. Read said the principle of the Bill was the establishment of 
separate markets for foreign cattle, and the measure w^as introduced 
for the simple purpose of attacking contagious diseases at their 
fountain head. He believed that unless they were so checked all 
other measures for their prevention must be ineffectual. The 
present high price of meat was to be attributed, not to our trading 
