The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-23 00:00:00

HERTFORDSHIRE.

The order of the Quarter Sessions prohibiting the
removal of cattle from the premises of the farmerto
the slaughterhouse of the butcher has excited great
dissatisfaction among the agricultural population,
who have loudly expressed their opinion that it is
unreasonable to deprive them of this privilege,whilc
they are permitted to send their oxen along thepub-
lic roads to a railway station for the purpose of
being conveyed to the metropolitan market. A no-
tice given by Baron Dimsdale that he wouldpropose
a new order for the purpose of stopping all public
sales of sheep and
.pigs has provoked still greater
opposition, and during last week memorials against
the threatened order were numerously signed by the
farmers attending the markets at Hertford, Hitchin,
Stortford, Watford, and Royston. At the adjourned
Quarter Sessions, on Saturday, Baron Dimsdale in-
troduced the motion of which he had given notice.
He referred to several cases in other counties, in
which the disease had appeared among sheep, and
argued that there was great danger of the virus
being carried about the country in the wool. lie
proposed----" That it shall not be lawful, from the
27th of January to the Ist of March, to remove any
sheep, goat, or swine to any market or fair, or to
any unenclosed space within this jurisdiction, for
the purpose of exhibition or sale ; or to receive, ex-
hibit, buy, or sell any such animal." Mr. Franks
seconded the motion. Mr. Robert Culling-Haabury,
M.P., opposed the resolution, and presented a me-
morial signed by 526 farmers and others against the
proposed order. 'The resolution was also opposed
by Mr. Parker and Mr. Cherry ; but, on being put
to the vote, it was carried by six to five. Mr. Abel
Smith then moved the following exception to the
order, which, after some discussion, was agreed to.
" Provided always that it shall not be unlawful for
sheep and pigs to be sold in open market, provided
they come from the premises of the owner, and he has
a certificate from the inspector of the district that no
disease has existed on his premises for 28 days pre-
viously to their removal." The Court then ad-
journed for a fortnight. The disease is extending
in some parts of the country, but there arc
many districts where it has never appeared, and
some in which it appeared at the first, but where
for five or six weeks past no trace of it has been dis-
covered. Mr. Fordham, of the Rye-house farm,
Hoddesdon, has lost nearly the whole of his herd.
Some two months since the disease appeared in a
mild form among his stock, but made no progress.
Within the last few days it has broken out again,
and Mr. Fordham has lost as many as 48 beasts.

LANCASHIRE (SOUTH).
Reports from all the agricultural districts in the
southern division of the county show that the cattle
plague is spreading with alarming rapidity. In the
Wigan union it has destroyed one heard of nine,
and two other farmers immediately slaughtered the
whole of their stock on its appearance ; but this has
not been effectual in checking the ravages of the
disease, as the inspector reports that it has broken
out at another farm in the infected township. The
residents in Ilindley have held a public meeting to
consider the steps to be taken ; but, after several
hours' discussion, the only conclusions come to were
that it was advisable to insure and to vaccinate. At
Lostock-hall Mrs. Brownlow has suffered much loss,
although 33 animals certified as healthy have been
slaughtered. At Westhoughton, Middle Hulton,
and Bertenshaw, townships around Bolton, the
disease is raging, while in the Leigh union, which
possesses but a comparatively limited area, 149
cattle have been attacked during the past few
weeks, and of these 101 are dead and only 24 have
recovered. The Leigh Union Cattle Association
has only £3lO in hand, and the claims to which it
is liable amount to £5Ol, but the association has
been temporarily relieved from its embarrassment
by the liberality of Mr. Jabez Johnson, of Penning-
ton-hall, who, though he had lost seven cows, de-
clines to make any claim. The plague has increased
to a serious extent this week around Warrington,
and many hundreds of animals have been vac-
' cinated. In two herds the plague pock was visible
in almost every cow at the time of vaccination.
The operation has been successful, and the cows
are doing well, but, whether this result has been at-
tained by previous treatment or by the vaccination,
or by the two combined, cannot be positively stated.
At Ormskirk, too, the rinderpest has broken out,
and in neighbourhood of St. Helen's it is raging in
an almost virulent form. Over a dozen are affected
at Windle-hall, where an hospital has been erected
to which the cattle supposed to be infected are con-
veyed, and treated by persons whose sole duty it is
to attend to them. At Bold and Ravenhead large
numbers of animals are sickening, and many have
been slaughtered. Three carcases from a farm at
the last-mentioned place were seized by a Liverpool
Inspector in the town on Friday, and condemned as
totally unfit for food. It appeared that the St.
Helen's inspector had refused to allow the beasts to
be sold there, but the Liverpool butcher who offered
the meat for sale produced a certificate from the
Prescott inspector that the animals were free from
the disease. The magistrate who heard the case ex-
pressed his opinion that it was most reprehensible
for a person appointed as it were by Government to
give a certificate in that way. On Saturday a dozen
butchers and drovers at Salford were summoned for