The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-08 00:00:00

[TWOPENCE

LETTER OF THE CHANCELLOR OP THE EX-
CHEQUER UPON THE CATTLE PLAGUE.

The following letter ban been addressed by the
Chutellor of the Exchequer to Sir T. D. Lloyd :
" Howard's, Chester, Dec. 26, 1865.
"DearSir,—The reuses which first over themselves to
my mind aphist any undertaking by government to treat
the insurance of cattle u a State concern, and to support
it by a guarantee from the Exchequer, ere of the following
1 character :

" 1. The difficulty, and not the difficulty only, but the
impossibility, of preventing carelessness, wsete, end fraud

0111Very.kiliCi,_froia the Bret momeet it Should biome

Miamithat the ultimate reeposeibility (beyond a fixed
limit, which would M once be found a very, very narrow
one) ley with the public pun*.
_ _

_
"2. The fact that in a number of sues particular die-
triete and landlords have already made their own arrsrge•
meets, which must have been acted upon. Were govern-
ment to move into the field, lbws good examples would be
neutralised, - -

and those who have met their owl losses would
be called as taxpayers to uaist is meeting the louse of

other people too.

"3. if it sbali appear, as is probable, that it is to pre.

veotioo rather than cure or cotopoosatioa that wo mad

chiefly look, under Providence, for the mitigation of the
calamity, nothing could be so unfortunate ea a mescals like
a state guarantee, which, by 'relaxing vigilance and the

men off a subject obviously of the greatest moment, aad, as
clearly, not yet sounded to the bottom. Thia objection does
not apply to plans of a voluntary nature, where every roan
would be checked by his neighbours, and each scheme would
have its proper adjustments.

"4. If the cattle plague should not extend itself on a
large scale, and so the losses of a severe character shouli
be confined to a small fraction of the farming class, there
*reins an obvious impropriety in relieving landlords, neigh-
bours, and rateable property from the duty of assisting, so
far ea assistance is necessary, those on whom the blow ham
fallen. And the precedent would be an evil one.
"5. But if, on the other baud, the disease should extend
very widely, the result must inevitably be felt in a much
saggrba?sultby:yelnarseAltakintutetedhinual amountetnppghrir
00mettcehhaeetyoioff
whr7auetrilw
eoydt.yo ebreoa llyynT h.intfyoosreerucc. ladt
smitten
ffer greatly iiiendwa
their
diminished soothlji4 largergamn •
iscomprmmionucewrsit'hwhilethe
oommunity at large. How, then, could the community be
asked to pay twice, first for their meet in extra price, sod,
secondly, for the cattle lost; while landlords and cultiva-
tors of the soil would probably, as a class, have their loss
(as in a bad corn year) countervailed by a corresponding or
greaten. benefit?
" I have thus slated freely what occurs to me, and per-
haps, in prudence, here I ought to and, as my particular
official duty ends with considering the merits of any call
made on the Exchequer. Bat the nature of the appeal you
make to we induces me to go somewhat further, and to
state opinions which I hold with due submission to better
I judgments, and with all readiness to be corrected by events
changing almost from day to day.
" The severity wilt which this calamity falls in particular
cases is grievous. It may be met, in part at least, by
associations for insurance, which will diminish the difficulty
arising from uncertainty—first, by only dealtng with a
proportion of the loss--secondly, by widening their local
area. Then there is a epeeist claim, though one varying
with circumstances, upon the landlord for help. Then
there is the resource, should the evil greatly grow. of
public subscription, in which 1 hope we should find claws
that have received benefit in other great visaettons willing
to return it. There is, lastly, the resource ofof' some legal
charge upon rateable property of the description liable to .
suffer. But the particular application of these considers.
Hoes must depend upon circumstances in great part as yet
undeveloped.
" In the meantime I believe the first of all duties is to
study in every way the subject of prevention. The public
mind is now in a state to endure aminees of restraint in
larger measure than before the tact of serious and pro-
grammes increase was established. And the powers in the
heads of local authorities are, I believe, as large as actual
circumstances justify or as general opinion would sustain.
"So much for prevention by restraint upon traffic in
besets. But there are other measures of prevention, to
be taken by each man for himself, which are of great zoo-
, meet, but which (as far as my information goes) would ap-
pear to have been likewise less, or less intelligently con-
sidered. I hear from time to time of suss in
which substances are introduced into yards and
sheds and oowhouses for prevention, with no aim
more distinct than that of creating a strong smell ;
whereas the two main objects to be taken into view
I conceive must be these : to neutralise the poison, espe-
cially by the removal of all substances on which it would
most easily lay hold ; sod to improve the air by substance*
which increase the life-sustaining element in it, and thus
raising the tone of health so as to remove or diminish that
predisposition in the animals on which so much depends,
and which appears is cases of this description to be what is
rudely called a low state or tone of body.
" I shall not attempt to enter upon questions of chemistry
with which I am unacquainted ; and I assume that the
best which may man can do at the present moment is to
state any facts within his knowledge which give a pre-
sumption of being possibly useful ; certainty appearing for
the present out of the question. At this plaint one medical
man—a scientific, able, and cautious inquirer—has tents.
Lively advised several of our farmers to adopt simple mea-
sures of precaution. which I may in a rough way (without
Dim authority) describe as follows :-1. To remove from the
oowbouses all substances probably affording • remedy lodg-
ment to the poison • 2. To restore god invigorate the at-
mosphere by phosphorus ; 3. To keep the stock within walls,
as no agency of the kind mentioned can he effective in the
open air. The disease has now bees in this neighbour-
hood for weeks. It came into the parish, I think,
about a week ago. It has partially surrounded farms
where these measures have been adopted, and thus few
they remain unscathed. We must not presume to answer
for to-morrow ; but I have not yet happened to hes: of
any facts so well worth attention. I may add that the cir-
cumstances of its appearsece here seem to suggest that the
disease passes by a diffused movement in the atmosphere,
and not only, though in all likelihood much more virulently,
by contagion. Likewise that there are various points of de-
tail which, if stated, would go strongly to support what I
have said of the preventive measures. One word more of
the measures themselves. At any moment the disease msy
appear on the exempted farms. But the evidence of their
failure would certainly not approach completeness until it
were known what proportion of the stock were seized. and
what proportion of the seized had recovered. The return
for the week ending December 16 gives us the following
figures :

Oases. Died. Recovered.
County of Chester 1.421 ... 634 ... 48
All Scotland
Thus, in Cheshire, the deaths are 374 per cent. of themes ;
in Scotland, 22 per cent. ; end in Cheshire the recoveries
are Si per coot. of the deaths ; in Scotland, 34 per cent.
" 1 beg you to excuse any error which may have crept
into this letter, and I remain, dear sir, your very faithful
servant, " W. E. GLADSTONE.
" Sir Thomas D. Lloyd, But., H.P.
" P.S. In Cheshire allowance must be made fur dairy
stock ; but the inequalities elsewhere are many. The
recoveries in all England ore to the deaths as one to eight ;
in Forfarshire, when the numbers attacked are larger than
in any county except York, they are two in seven."

The Queen has been pleased to sanction the
following appotatments:—Mr. William Kelso Martin, to be
• member of the Legislative Council of the Island of An-
tigua, sod Mr. Henry Berkeley to be treasurer for that
island.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP LONDON.—The next
scientific meetieg of this society will be held to-morrow,
the 9th inst., at baffles' 8 o'clock p.m., when • commu-
nication will be made by Professor Owen on the osteology
of the Dedo.
CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN SHETLAND.—A corre-
spondent of the North British Mail writes :—" Vigorous
preparations are being made by the Agricultural Society for
the next year's operations. One new feature in these
operations is an attempt to induce the farmers of the
country to grow flax. It is said that two instances of flax
culture occurred last season in Shetlsod, although we
cannot sacertain that even ooe occurred. We do know,
however, that the year before a small quantity of flax was
grown by Mr. J. A. Johnston, at the Bridgeof-Walls, in
one of the most inhospitable patches of ground in all Shet-
land ; and although it was the first time that ever a spade
was in the ground, the result was quite conclusive as to the
practicability of rearing that valuable crop in Shetland."
FATAL ACCIDENT IN CONNEXION WITH A RAILWAY
TUNNEL—Mr. Curry, the coroner of Liverpool, held a
partial investigation oa Saturday into the fatal accident
which occurred on Thursday. An arch stove some storage
cellars connected with the Wapping tunnel of the Loudon
and North Wasters Cospaly, at Perk.lane, gave way when
• carter (Henry Preston) was passing over it with a load of
bricks and caused Prestos's death. The body of the poor
fellow was dug out of the &Geis two boars afterwards.
From the evidenes adduced cm Saturday it appeared that
on as examination being made of the ruins it was fated
that a interior flaw existed in one of the iron girders
which supported the brickwork over the cellars. The
engineer to the ooritractors stated that when the &len
were erected they were tooted with • hammer, but so
unsoundness was app.:wet. They were not. however, bested
with weights or by bydssedia power. The inquiry woe
adjourned until Tuesday.

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