The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-16 00:00:00

SOMERSETSHIRE,

At a meeting of the Bath and West of England
Agricultural Society, held at Taunton under the
presidency of the Earl of Portsmouth, the subject of
the cattle plague was the prominent subject of dis-
cussion.

Col. ACLAND, M.P., drew attention to the import-
ance of taking some steps in reference to the visita-
tion known as the cattle plague, causing so much
alarm in various parts of England.
Mr. W. A. SANFORD, Nynehead-court, Wellington,
said it was unnecessary for them at this stage of the
proceedings to inquire whether the disease had origi-
nated in this kingdom or had been caused by the
importation of foreign cattle. That question might
fairly be left to the Government, who had power by
an Order in Council to prevent further importations
if it were found on investigation that the origin or
progress of the disease was attributable to the in-
troduction of animals from abroad. What the Go-
vernment ought to do was to circulate the best
information they could on a subject of such vital
importance among the agriculturists in the district
of their operations ; nor was there any time to lose,
for the disease was no doubt spreading in different
parts of the country ; and a speaker (Mr. Schonk)
had asserted at a meeting recently held in London
that it was in a remote parish in Somersetshire that
the disease first originated. If this were true in
point of fact, it was highly important that care
should be taken to prevent the-spread of the disease
from the parish to which allusion had been made ;
and he had accordingly written to Mr. Schonk ask-
ing him for the name of the parish, but had not as
yet received a reply. In conclusion, he suggested
thAt a handbill, containing information for stock-
owners, should be issued under the authority of the
council, and that sub-committees should be formed
from among the members of the society in the vari-
ous districts comprised within the area of the society's
operations for the purpose of giving prompt and
extensive circulation to such information.
Mr. DAW, of Exeter, said that anything to be
effectual must be done within a small area. Every..
thing depended on prompt action, and this was
utterly incompatible with a large district and cum-
brous machinery. In Devonshire the danger was
actually at their very doors, and one farmer, Mr.
Snell, of Egg Buckland, had lost every head of his
cattle by it. The proper way to cope with the evil
would be by prompt action in local areas, and he
thought it highly desirable that a Mutual Protection
Society should be established in every Poor Law
Union in the counties comprised within the society's
area of operations, for the very simple reason that
the area of a Poor Law Union was quite large enough
for the distribution of insurance risk, and quite as
large as consistent with promptitude of action. At
the Exeter meeting they utterly repudiated the idea
of treating the matter in the form of a county move-
ment, and at one of the largest meetings ever got
together in the Guildhall they had resolved to esta-
blish a Mutual Assurance Association confined to a
district coincident with the area of St. Thomas's
Union, believing that they would be the best means
of dealing with the evil, and leaving the residents in
other Unions to follow their example. Hence it was
that they had refused to allow several large stock-
owners in distant parts of the county to become

insurers in the Exeter District Association, but
rather recommended them at once to form associa-
tions in their own immediate neighbourhoods. This
course of action was the more essential because of
the peculiar nature of the disease. He would not
attempt to describe it ; that was unnecessary after
what had appeared in the newspapers ; but he would
not hesitate to say that when an animal was taken
ill it should be killed at once. In the valley of the
Nile, where the disease was allowed to take its
course, full 80 per cent. of the cattle were swept
away by it ; but in Austria, where they had combined
in Mutual and Protection Associations, and distri-
buted the loss among a company, instead of casting
it on individuals, and the effected animals were at once
destroyed, the loss was limited to 2 per cent. If they
established associations with too extended an area—
such, for instance, as that of a county—they would
need a staff of paid officers, a secretary, valuers, and
so forth ; but if they confined their operations to
narrower limits it would be easy to find gentlemen
willing to act as honorary secretaries, and they
would only need one inspector, who would take an
area co-extensive to that of a Poor Law Union, and
no larger. Such an area would probably be repre-
sented by at least 10,000 head of cattle, which would
be quite sufficient for insurance purposes, and would
in the event of a bad visitation make quite sufficient
demands on the attention of any one inspector. In
the Exeter Association they proposed that every
stock-owner joining it should pay an entrance fee of
Is. per head, stating the number of stock in his pos-
session, and that he should pay such other calls as
might from time to time be made. The association
would be managed by a committee, of which every
insurer of 20 bullocks would be eligible as a member ;
but it would also include persons of influence and
intelligence, who, though not actually owners of
stock themselves, might choose to show their interest
in the objects of the association by subscribing as
though they were. In the event of any animal being
affected, the first step would be to call in an inspec-
tor, who would have power to order its immediate
destruction ; and two practical men having assessed
the value of any animal so destroyed, its owner would
receive two-thirds or three-fourths of the amount,
as might be agreed upon in the conditions of asso-
ciation. It must be obvious that in small areas the
affair would be much more manageable than in more
extensive districts.

Mr. G. H. ANDREWS, of Rimpton, Sherborne, Dor-
set, contended that without the intervention of Go-
vernment authority at the outports nothing effec-
tual could be done. An animal imported at South-
ampton the other day had communicated the disease
to all the other animals in a park where it was intro-
duced, and all the animalshad since died. He did not
believe it possible for the most scientific men to say
what animals had the disease latent in them or not.
The only plan by which the Government could stop
the disease would be by establishing at every port
arrangements for the slaughter of animals and the
inspection of the flesh afterwards. Sound carcasses
would then be sold as in the London meat markets,
without any serious interruption to trade,
at a time when supplies were greatly needed. He
concluded by suggesting that Government should
be memorialised in favour of some such plan as he
had ventured to recommend.

Mr. W. A. BRUCE, of Ashley, Chippenham, said
that as he lived in the immediate proximity to Mr.
Shine, of Warleigh, the " parish in the remote part
of Somerset," where it was suggested that the disease
had originated, he had much pleasure in informing
the council, as the result of a very carefully con-
ducted examination, that there was not the slightest
similarity between the symptoms of the disease af-
fecting Mr. Skrine's cattle and ,those which were
represented as constituting the peculiarities of the
so-called cattle plague. Mr. Bruce then gave a
minute description of the symptoms of the disease
affecting Mr. Skrine's cattle, which were pronounced
by several competent authorities to indicate nothing
more nor less than the ordinary foot and mouth
disease.

After a long discussion, in which Sir J. T. B.
Duckworth, Mr.R. N. Grenville, M.P., Mr. Acland,
M.P., and others took part, a committee was ap-
pointed to collect and disseminate information on
the subject of the disease, and with authority to
communicate with the chairmen and clerks of the
Boards of Guardians in the several Unions of the
six western counties.

A motion to memorialise the Government to adopt
additional precautions at the outports, in accordance
with the suggestions of Mr. Andrews at an earlier
stage of the proceedings, was negatived by a casting
vote of the chairman.

The committee at once proceeded to business, and
determined upon a form of letter to the chairmen
and clerks of Boards of Guardians in the Poor-law
Unions in the counties of Somerset, Devon, Corn-

wall, Dorset, Wilts, and Gloucester, which was
settled and approved, recommending the formation
of Mutual Protection Associations, and the follow-
ing form of handbill of suggestions to stock-owners
was ordered to be printed and circulated in the rural
districts :

" 1. That no cattle which have been recently purchased
be allowed to join the stock on the farm, but be kept sepa-
rate from them in a distant part of the farm for not less than
14 days.

"2. That when an animal shows symptoms of being in-
fected it be immediately removed from the herd, kept
within some separate shed, and placed under the care of a
veterinary surgeon.
"3. Should the existence of the disease in such animal be
confirmed, it is recommended that the animal be destroyed
and buried; that the shed be carefully whitewashed with
fresh limo or any other disinfectant ; and that all the re-
maining fodder, bedding, and dung be bestroyed by fire."