The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-06 00:00:00

SOCIETY OF ARTS.

The paper read last evening by Mr. John Irwin,
" On the Trade in Foreign Cattle," was one which
naturally created a considerable amount of interest.
The author went into the subject in full detail, his
general views being to the following effect :—The
supply of food to large cities, especially to London,
is a subject of such deep moment that very great care
should be observed in attempting any radical change
in the system which has been in practice for a
lengthened period. In the opinion of some the con-
tingency of having very little, and sometimes abso-

utely no meat fit for consumption in the London
market, is not provided for by consignments from
the Continent, but by the home-fed stock ; on the
other hand, the school alluded to has the greatest
faith in the doctrine that we should be richer, not
only in the number, but in the purity of our herds,
if we had never imported a single foreign animal ;
but the author conceived this principle to be purely
theoretical. As far as the rinderpest is specially
concerned, the Royal commission of 1865 failed to
establish anything conclusive as to direct importa-
tion; and veterinary authorities arc even now unde-
cided and far from undivided in their opinions. Still
more, the evidence given to the Royal commission
establishes the fact of the existence at various times
of some plague among cattle in England analogous
to, if not identical with, the rinderpest ; it is also a
strange circumstance that in 1348-49, after the
" black death" among men a grievous plague at-
tacked cattle, whereas in last year and the present
the converse has taken place, and it is a question
for those skilled in the science of contagious diseases
to determine how far such a coincidence may be ac-
counted for, but the author had the impression that
in attempting to establish the theory of direct im-
portation, we might be pursuing a fallacy. That
the necessities of our meat supplies have rendered it
incumbent on us to resort to continental Europe is
as self-evident as the fact of. our having to go abroad
for cheaper bread than we can produce at home.
The increasing improvement in the quality of the
cattle imported is gradually being admitted by all
who approach the subject. To those who are satis-
fied with this imprcriement being correctly stated it
would be superfluous to urge the importance of our
having, as far as practicable, unrestricted importa-
tion of cattle alive ; and where opinions of an ad-
verse character prevail one' can only hope for better
convictions, and the author assumed, therefore, that
the importation of cattle from abroad was an abso-
lute necessity ; and leaving the broad question of
such necessity proceeded to consider the details of
the system adopted in conductiug the trade in
foreign cattle. After the removal of the pro-
hibition and restrictive duty on cattle no
material importation was received in this coun-
try till 1846, the numbers standing as follows :
—1843, neat stock, 1521; sheep and lambs, 216 ;
1850, neat stock, 66,462; sheep and lambs, 143,498;
after which there was no material increase till 1860,
when the numbers were-1860, neat stock, 104,569;
sheep and lambs, 320,218. 1865, neat stock,
8
what portions of the
above were sold in London, but it may be roughly.
2 i
taken that of all the importations into Great ;sheeprepa lambs,
was 3,7
not
l pr e adn d
to
show
Bri-
tain more than half of the total number are sent
to the Metropolitan Cattle Market. Bearing in
mind the overcrowded state of the thoroughfares
of the metropolis, the author was quite prepared to
find himself at issue with the advocates of the prin-
ciple of " taking the butcher to the ox instead of the
ox to the butcher," for he believed that the prac-
tice could never be carried out. It would be more
than rash, however, to assert that any adaptation of
trade to circumstances is impossible ; but admitting
such possibility, it is a canon of faith amongst those
competent to form an opinion that it would be only
at an inconvenience and pecuniary loss to the seller,
and consequently increased prices to the buyers, and
the certainty of, in the warm summer months, either
having no meat in the market, or meat not sound
enough for ordin iry consumption. It must also
further be noted that Holland is not the only coun-
try from which we obtain our supplies, but the voy-
age being of shorter duration than any other cattle
voyage, renders the experiment of shipping dead
meat one attended with less risk than from other
districts. Just in the same manner we have had
large importations of dead meat from Hamburg in
the cold weather, when it wia kccp for an almost
unlimited time ; but this is a question of weather
and distance, and it would not be safe to rely on the
supplies subject to such contingencies. In summer
time the importation of carcases, even from Holland,
would not be likely to be attempted unless in ex-
ceptionally cold summers.

The necessity of encouraging by every possible
facility the attendance in our markets of the foreign
dealer will be more appreciated when we consider
the actual number of cattle in proportion to the