The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-22 00:00:00

ADMIRAL HEWETT'S PROCLAMATION.

Earl De La Warr rose to ask the -Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs whether the recent proclamation of
Admiral Hewett could be laid upon the table of the
House. It had been stated, he said, in the public
Press that Admiral Hewett, who was recently invested
with supreme authority as Civil and Military Governor
of Soualrim, had issued a proclamation which run thus:
"I, the English Governor-General, Civil and Mili-
tary, of Souakim, make known that whosoever will
bring in the rebel Osman, the murderer, who has by
his lies caused the blood of the tribes to be spilt at
El Teb and Tamanieb, alive or dead, shall receive $5OOO
reward."

It was further stated that the proclamation had been
affixed to the walls of Souakim and circulated in the
country. He trusted Her Majesty's Government would
have no objection to laying a copy of the proclamation
upon the table of the House, as it seemed to him that a
proclamation such as that to which he had referred, and
which was now assumed to be correct, would be un-
worthy, to say the least, of any civilised country, and
that it would be little short of offering a reward for
murder to bring alive or dead, as it said, the leader of
brave and gallant men who had been fighting for their
country, their families, and their homes against those
who did not really know what they were fighting for,
but who now, unhappily, would leave behind them
thousands of homes with only widows and orphans.
Earl Granville in reply said: On account of the
reports in the papers, Her Majesty's Government,
through the First Lord of the Admiralty, sent an in-
quiring telegram to Admiral Hewitt. Information has
been received from Admiral Hewett. The noble earl
praised Osman Digna. The Admiral considers him to
be a murderer, who had killed two of his messengers.
The proclamation was issued after consultation with
the headmen and the sheikhs of the friendly tribes. We
have received the text of the proclamation; it contains
the offer alluded to by the noble viscount. Her
Majesty's Government have telegraphed that they can-
not approve it, and that tfie offer must be withdrawn
at once in the manner which seems to those on the
spot to be most judicious.
Several measures having been advanced a stage their
lordships rose at five o'clock.

The HOUSE OF COMMONS had its first morning sit-
ting to forward the Cattle Diseases Bill. At question
time, Lord Hartington, questioned by Mr. Balfour and
others as to Admiral Hewett's proclamation offering a
reward for Osman Digna alive or dead, said that the
Government disapproved it, and the Admiralty had
ordered him to withdraw it in the manner which he
might deem the most judicious. In answer to Sir A.
Gordon, the noble lord said the Government had no
intention of recalling the Admiral.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES (ANIMALS) DILL.
Mr. Dodson, in moving the second reading of the
Cattle Diseases Bill, explained that it had its origin in
the strong opinion, to which the Government had
yielded, that the stockholders of the country, seeing the
patience with which they had submitted themselves to
internal regulations, had a right to a comparative
security against the introduction of disease from
foreign countries. Absolute security, he maintained,
was impossible even by total prohibition. The
Privy Council, therefore, was willing to undertake
greater power and greater responsibility, and would
undertake total prohibition of importation from
countries where securities against the spread of disease
did not exist, believing that this could be done without
any risk to the consumer. In the House of Lords the
first clause of the bill as originally introduced had been
materially altered, and in committee, he said, he should
move amendments which would restore the bill in the
main to its original shape.
Mr. Arnold, who had given notice of his intention to

move the rejection of the bill, said he would not
persevere with this, but would reserve his opposition
for committee.
Mr. Newdegate supported the bill. Sir L. Playfair
argued that the disease was periodic and acclimatised,
and could only be stamped out by a combination of
heroic measures for extinction at home with exclusion
of imports.
Mr. R. Paget replied that the farmers were quite
willing to submit to restrictions, on the conditions that
they were protected against the importation of the
disease from abroad; and in that manner they believed
that the disease might be stopped. The decrease of
our home flocks and herds proved that this was a con-
sumer's question.
Mr. J. Howard disputed the periodicity of the disease,
and saw very little difference between the bill as
amended and its original form.
Mr. 0. S. Read supported the bill, observing that the
amendments of the House of Lords had strengthened
the measure and made it much more likely to effect
its object. _ _

Mr: Forster did not oppose the second reading of the bill
—though he thought it went much further than it ought
—on the understanding that the Government would do
their best to restore it to its original form. Quoting
the opinion of the Lord Chancollor, he maintained that
the Duke of Richmond's amendment meant a total pro-
hibition of free import, and that the importation of
live animals from all the scheduled countries must be
stopped. This he calculated would stop the importation
of 250,000,0001 b. of eatable food, or 3241 b. of meat per
head for the metropolis alone. No doubt the dead
meat trade would grow, but for the immediate wants of
our population it was quite insufficient. The bill he
maintained was totally unnecessary for its purpose.
Mr. Chaplin considered the bill would do much for
the comforts and necessities of all classes of the com-
munity. As regarded home restrictions, if Parliament
would give the agricultural interest the best security in
its power against the introduction of disease they would
be willing to submit to the severest restrictions in
order to stamp it out whenever it reappeared. The
agitation against the measure he described as got up by
a "butchers' ring."
Mr. J. Barclay thought the original bill of the
Government went quite far enough; while Mr.
Hastings, as an earnest free trader, supported the bill
as it stood.

Mr. Acland preferred the original bill, and was quite
willing to support the Government.
Mr. Bryce repudiated the imputation of being in-
fluenced by a butchers' ring.
Mr. Healy asked for some assurance that Ireland
would not be treated as a foreign country; and Mr.
Kenny spoke until the hour for adjournment arrived,
and so prevented the bill being read a second time.
At the evening sitting, the House was counted out
before any business was done.