The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-04 00:00:00

CUMBERLAND.

On Friday Mr. Bell, the Carlisle Districtlnspector,
was called to see some cattle at Campfield, near
Bowness-on-Solway. He found them afflicted with
the disease. Out of a herd of 31 grazing on a large
common one had already died of the disease, and
many of the others were sinking rapidly. The
owner, Mr. John Lawson, a " statesman," had pur-
chased them in Scotland, at Downe Tryst; and the
low price he paid for them—only about £2 a head
—gives rise to the suspicion that they were part of
an infected herd. The outbreak at Campfield has
caused much uneasiness in the district ; as the cattle
among which the disease has appeared were driven
through a part of Cumberland where large herds of
stock are put out to graze on public marshes on the
shores of the Solway Firth. Mr. Lawson consented
to destroy the whole herd at once.
A meeting of farmers and stockholders was held
at Carlisle on Saturday afternoon to consider the
best means to be adopted in the county at the pre-
sent juncture. Sir Robert Brisco, of Crofton-hall,
took the chair.

The CHAIRMAN said the cattle plague was now
established in the county. It began, unfortunately,
on one of his own farms through want of judgment
on the part of the farmer who had purchased some
strange cattle without knowing satisfactorily that
they were free from the disease ; and although
every cow on the farm had been slaughtered the
infection had unfortunately spread to the adjoining
farms. In that locality the disease was confined to
the district around Orton, and it had also broken
out near Bowness. Was there any means of stop-
ping it from going much further ? It was of no
use complaining that the medical profession could
not cure the disease. He maintained that it was
requisite for them to induce owners of stock, when
they saw there was some disease, to adopt measures
to have every beast put down, for he believed
that was the only chance of safety. (Cheers.)
Let them take another view. That curative sys-
tem which was adopted at present, so far as mat-
ters had gone in that county, he believed had no
effect whatever. Every beast was dying, and he was
not aware of any preservative whatever ; and while
we were trying to cure we were spreading the dis-
ease wholesale among the herds of the district. But j
goiso outla isolation o
nn t
from the
thatop e n
moment.a
suppose .we kept the disease nursed up till May,
when there is no winter fodder left, why the herds
must
ir,a and tThhereereiswaans
iso-
lation to
all.
lation at present if the cattle were kept in the farm-
' steads ; but the moment they were compelled, by
the advance of the season, to turn their stock
fields, there would be nothing but a
hedge
between
them and destruction. They knew by •
experience
that the infection would travel at least 400 yards,
and if that were the case what herd could they ex-
pect to be saved from the disease; and then what
would become of their insurance companies ? As a
large landowner, he was
making up his books to
pass two or three years of ruin ; and what did that
mean ? In meant the ruin of tenantry throughout
the county. At present the disease was confined
to two little spots in the county. Was it possible