NORTH OR ENGLAND VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. (jQ 1 
“ Cask 2. —Mr. Errington, of South Hetton, bought a cow at Durham 
fortnightly fair. A week after coming home she became affected with 
‘ murrain/ 
“ Several cases in the same byre soon happened in addition. One cow, 
of a delicate constitution, has never been well since, now four months ago. 
“The loss to this farmer, a new-milk seller, was very considerable, 
certainly not less than £‘25. 
“ Case 3.—Mr. John Willis, Seaharn, keeps twenty-eight cows. Bought 
a cow at Darlington market, which brought the disease in the byre. At 
this farm the cases were not severe, but four cows had very bad udders, 
but no quarters indurated. The loss of milk and condition, &c., could 
not have been less than £20. 
“ Case 4. —Mr. Errington, Stony Gate, Houghton-le-Spring, keeps 
twelve cows. The disease was brought into this byre by a cow bought 
at Newcastle market. All the other cows took it; one proved a very 
bad case. The pigs on the same farm also became affected, two of which 
died. Even some hens were attacked. 
“ Estimated loss about £25. 
“ Case 5.—Mr. Sanderson, of Low Grounds, Seaharn Harbour, also 
got the disease among his stock, numbering about twenty head, and by 
condition and milk being thereby sacrificed estimates a loss of £20. 
“There are many similar cases I could give you, but time will not 
allow me; suffice it to say that few men can take a cow into any of our 
cattle fairs and bring it out again without contracting the disease. As a 
proof of this, I may say that in this district the disease is always much 
more prevalent for a month or five weeks after Durham and New¬ 
castle Cattle fairs, than at any other time, certainly in the ratio of ten 
to two. 
“ My own opinion is, and has long been, that the annual losses to the 
farmers and dairymen of Britain is enormous from this disease alone; in 
my own practice certainly not less than £1000 per annum, which I cal¬ 
culate as follows:—one hundred customers at £10 each—£1000. 
“ I remain, &c., 
“ C. Hunting.” 
And now, gentlemen, having reviewed the various agents by which 
cattle traffic is governed, let me as briefly as possible state a few reasons 
why I think legislative interference, if properly carried out, would be 
useful at least to the agricultural interest of my own district. In this 
locality the heart of the coal trade, and birth-place—if I may so call it— 
of that vast railway system, which of itself has done more to revolutionise 
our social system, its agriculture, manufacture, and commerce, than any 
other means. In this district agriculture gives place, and is quite sub¬ 
servient to, the large mining and manufacturing establishments with 
which it is studded. 
Our farm holdings are small, averaging barely 200 to 250 acres. The 
whole of the produce is sold on the spot, or in the neighbouring market, 
and what store cattle are needed, or milch cows required, are pur¬ 
chased, as a rule, in Newcastle or similar public markets, and the animals 
so purchased run a gauntlet with the infectious diseases of a market never 
clear from them; the cows are seldom bred from, and the bringing fat 
ones to market and purchasing in calvers is a matter of constant recurrence. 
The President took occasion to remark that as doubtless there would 
be the expression of various opinions on such an important subject as that 
which was embodied in the paper, in order to afford every person an 
