The Express.
London, England, 1866-02-12 00:00:00

THZ GOVIIIIMINT AND THZ CATTLU MAO=

Waiting the legislation on the cattle plague to be
proposed to-night in parliament, the Times proceeds to
desoribe the motives by which the government has hitherto
been actuated, ascribing special importance to the considers.
tion which most have presented itself to ministers, that the
pressure put upon them in favour of a particular line of actin
proceeded from the agricultural class only, and that the con-
snows, the inhabitants of the great towns, shorn i no desire
for edicts the inconvenience of which wan more evident to
them than their necessity. But to them also the truth,
sooner or later, must certainly come home, and the Time
is glad to observe from Lord Spencer's statements that
the inconvenience from an inevitable trial is likely to be
mitigated by preparations already advanced. " A change"
said his lordship, "is taking place in the meat trade.
There has been of late an enormous increase in
the deed meat of the country, and the result is
that if it is iodispeosable to stop the movement of
stock in the country, the trade will be able to accom-
modate itself to the change." This is welcome intelligence,
and it is to be wished that the facilities for slaughtering
cattle at the ports of landing, about which Sir George
Grey naturally inquired, had been as providently matured.
If, however, there are plenty of live cattle to be found at
Liverpool, we may rely upon it that Manchester will not
be long left in straits for meat, even though the cattle may
not be moved alive, and it is better that an experiment
should be tried which may preserve us all from an other-
wise inevitable famine than that the calamity should be
allowed to take its own course for the mere sake of a brief
and uneasy respite.
The PM insists that all fairs and markets for black cattle
ought to be stopped throughout Great Britain, and that it
would be desirable if the locomotion of pip and sheep coed
be suspended. Dealers and butchers will soon extemporise
mesas for slaughtering animals anywhere, if compelled to
do so. Fish cam be conveyed from Ireland and from Scot-
land to the metropolis, and to other large towns, in a whole-
some state, even in the hottest weather, and why should
net the same thing be practicable with regard to meat,
which is by no means so perishable as the other commo.
dity ? It is understood that the pre►entive measures now
contemplated by the government will be stringent, and this
the public will gladly acquiesce in.
The Tckmsaph sees the necessity for compensation, pro-
vided it is strictly confined to those cases in which the
state, for the good of the country, curtails the legitimate
profits of individuals, by prohibiting the movement of
cattle intended for eels, or enjoining the destruction of
beasts smitten with disease. The means for the reimburse-
ment, the TdegrapA proposes, should be provided by •
compulsory county rate-io.sid levied in all counties. The
ideal measure would he one fixing the general liability by
an silt of parliament, but using the power and machinery
already existing for the levying and distributing of the
county rate, and some such plan, we may confidently hop*,
will be proposed by Sir George Grey in the House of
Common' to-night.