The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-04-26 00:00:00

THE CATTLE DISEASES BILL.

The House then ;Te-n-t-intc.:Committee on the Cattle
Diseases Bill, and after some minor amendments had
been disposed of, Mr. Dodscn, on behalf of the
Government, moved the first of a series of amend-
ments which are designed to restore the bill to the
form in which it was originally introduced in the Lords.
Though many members, he said, thought the difference
merely one of " Tweedledee " and " Tweedledum,' the
Government attached the greatest weight to it, hold-
ing that the amendments of the Lords went much
further than the necessity of the case, and pushed
restriction to a point approaching to protection. The
effect of the clause a 4 he proposed to amend it would
be to place the Privy Council under a statutory obliga-
tion to prohibit in all cases where they were satisfied
that adequate vrotection did not exist against the ex-
portation of disease, and that, he maintained, was au
adequate safeguard. As a proof that the Department
would exercise the powers placed in its hands, he
1-139ntiOnt1 that since last May not a single head of
cattle affected Vy Ole Nit-am4-rn9uth disease had been
landed on our coasts for slaughter.
Mr. Heneage NArmly opvos,eck th 6 proposed amend-
ment, and declared thal *ould prefer no bill at all
to an illusory enactment such as that originally proposed
by the Lord President. Among other arguments, he
insisted on the moral effect abroad of recording prohi-
bition in a statutory form, and argued that the dead
meat trade would develop, that the price of meat would
not rise, and that none were more interested than the
working classes in preventing the infection of meat and
milk.

Mr. Chaplin also opposed the amendment, contending
that the bill as it now stood would work as a preventive,
while the Lord President's bill would interfere when it
was too late. As to Mr. Dodson's defence of his De-
partment, whatever might have been the case since May
last, before that time the Privy Council had allowed the
importation of hundreds of diseased cargoes.
Colonel Nolan, Mr. Duckham, Mr. J. Howard, and
others also spoke against the amendment, while, on
the other side, Baron H. de Worms, Mr. T. Rogers, and
Mr. Forster urged that the Government proposal would
secure adequate protection, and that to add to the
stringency of the bill would seriously affect the price
of meat and ultimately defeat the object of the
bill.

-On a division the amendment was negatived by 185
to 161, amid loud cheers from the Opposition benches.
After the numbers had been announced, Mr. Dodson
said that after the serious vote just given by the com-
mittee the Government desired to consider their posi-
tion, and he therefore moved to report progress. This
motion gave rise to an animated conversation.
Sir M. Hicks-Beach pointed out that the Government
had already had a long time—ever since the bill was
amended in the Lords—to consider their position, and
if this motion were a preliminary to abandoning the
bill, it would be accepted as a proof that the Govern-
ment had never been sincere.

Mr. Forster, on the other hand, thought that the
Government had a right to take time to consider what
was right and proper for them to do.
Sir S. Northcote reminded the committee that this
was not the first time this session that the Government
had shown a disposition to disregard the opinion of the
House of Commons on a matter affecting the agricul-
tural interest.

Mr. Gladstone protested against the imputation of
insincerity, and maintained that the Government had
always expressed a hope that the House of Commons
would be more favourable to their view than the House
of Lords, and that the House of Lords would yield to
their decision. They desired to see whether they could
come to terms with the amendment of the Lords, and
the course they now proposed was usual und•ar the cit..
eurristances.

CONVENT SCHOOLS IN IRELAND.
At the evening sitting a protracted d .-ussion took
place upon a motion by Mr. Biggar that the teachers
of convent national schools in Ireland should be dealt

with, as to remune-ration, on equal terms with those
applied to other teachers of primary schools in connec-
tion with the system of Irish national education.
Mr. Trevelyan replied that it was impossible for the
Government to adopt the resolution, inasmuch as they
could not depart from the principle that as one element
in the efficiency of schools they must have regard to
the efficiency of the teachers. The Irish Government
were, however, examining into the question whether
some means could not be found dependent upon the
efficiency of the convent schools, to enable the grant
from the Exchequer to approach somewhat nearer the
deserts of these 'schools than it did at present. On a
division the motion was negatived by seventy-one to
forty-four.
The House was counted out at one o'clock.