552 
3 
THE FOREIGN CATTLE TRADE. 
A very large and influential deputation, consisting of cattle 
trade associations of the Midland Counties and North of 
England, had an interview with Earl Spencer and Mr. 
Mundella, at the Privy Council office, on Monday afternoon, 
to urge upon the Government the desirability of taking off 
the restrictions imposed by the late Government upon cattle 
imported from abroad, and America particularly. 
Mr. Jacob Bright, M.P., in introducing the deputation, 
said that they came to state the strong objections they 
entertained to the restrictions which now existed on the 
importation of meat. They believed that those restrictions 
limited the quantity, and, at the same time, deteriorated the 
quality of this important class of food. There was a wide 
feeling as to these restrictions, and particularly as to American 
cattle. It was held that they came into this country in a 
condition more healthy on the average than the cattle of this 
kingdom. The disease of pleuro-pneumonia, which was the 
reason why American cattle were not allowed to come in, 
did not exist in America at all. The members of the depu¬ 
tation would speak upon these points. Mr. John Whitehead, 
of Leeds, president of the Foreign Cattle Trade Association, 
said he represented the butchers of more than forty towns in 
the Midland Counties, and gave statistics to show why the 
restrictions complained of should be removed. In 1879 
there had been a decrease in the number of English sheep 
and cattle of 1,322.865, and seeing that the British farmer 
could not produce meat enough for the consumption of the 
people, there was an absolute necessity that the Privy Council 
should, if possible, remove undue restrictions upon foreign 
supplies. Out of 76,117 cattle imported last year from the 
United States, there were only 137 affected by pleuro¬ 
pneumonia, and in those cases the disease was not found till 
the animals had been slaughtered. It was a great hardship 
that all foreign meat had to be slaughtered at the port of its 
arrival. Tons upon tons of waste was the result, and the 
offal was utterly sacrificed, which was a grevious loss to the 
poorer and to a large proportion of the middle classes. 
Mr. Mark Price (Manchester) drew attention to the fact 
that out of 76,000 cattle imported from America in 1879, 
there were only 137 which were said, after a microscopical 
inspection, to be affected by pleuro-pneumonia. The 
Americans denied that the disease existed in their country, and 
our own Professor Williams distinctly stated that the disease 
