Speech of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, K.G., Lord President of the Council, on presenting the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Bill : delivered in the House of Lords, Tuesday, February 12, 1878.

  • Lennox, Charles Henry Gordon, 6th Duke of Richmond and 1st Duke of Gordon.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Speech of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, K.G., Lord President of the Council, on presenting the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Bill : delivered in the House of Lords, Tuesday, February 12, 1878. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    16 months in the year 1877, and I find that the avei’age price of beef per stone in 187(5, when there were fewer restrictions (because in 1877 your Lordships will recollect was the time when the cattle plague was rife, and that some foreign countries were scheduled, and some are not now sending any animals at all); in 1876 the price was 5s. IcZ. per stone, and the price of mutton was 5s. 7^d., and in 1877 the price of beef was 5s. 2d. and mutton 6s. 2d. a stone, so there was a difference in respect to beef of only about ^th of a penny, and in mutton ^ths of a penny per pound, and your Lordships will no doubt be aware that it is much safer to take the average price of beef than it is of mutton, because the price of mutton so greatly depends upon whether it is sold in the wool or out of the wool, and therefore no one can give so accurate an account of the price of mutton as he can of beef. My Lords, this committee having therefore carefully con- sidered the matter came to the conclusion :— That comjyalsory slaughter at the loort of debarkation is not likely either to discourage foreign importation, or to diminish the supply of our large towns, or generally to raise the price of meat. The change, however, would he a considerable interference with the present system of trade carried on by butchers and salesmen. For this reason, and because proper arrangements would in ma/)iy cases have to be made at the ports selected for debarkation, your committee feel that it woiold be well to postpone the commencement of the change for a time sufhcient to enable the necessary preparations to be carried out. And therefore it is in accordance strictly with the I'ecom- mendations of that committee that we propose that this bill should not come into operation till the 1st January 1879. Now my Lords before I proceed to the bill there is one point which I should like to touch upon, and that is, the operation of the measures as affecting Ireland. My Lords, the 38th paragraph of the Eeport of the committee states— That the restrictions applicable to Great Britain should be extended to Ireland, or else that ports shoidcl be specified in Great Britain by the Privy Council to which alone im- portation of live amimals from Irelarul shoidd be laiuful, the animals not being permitted to be taken inland unless examined and passed by a Privy Council inspector at the port of debarkation. My Lords, I am bound to say I am not impressed with the alternative regulations there proposed. The object of the Government in dealing with this question is to deal with
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