The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser. — 1866-02-17 (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England)

NEW REPORT OF THE CATTLE PLAGUE COMMISSIONERS.  This paper was laid before Parliament on Monday night. It commences with statistics showing the rapid increase of the disease from 11,300 cases reported to the inspectors on October 7 to 120,740 on January 27 last, and with remarks on the routes along which the contagion spread. The comparative immunity of the ' great breeding districts of the kingdom, into which in ordinary times cattle are rarely imported," is pointed out ' • and that from"centres" of contagion "on the eastern side of the island the plague travelled west or south-west, traversing alike low and elevated lands, and not apparently influenced by varitiea of soil." The only certain conclusion the commissioners arrive at respecting the origin of the pest is that it did not commence in London cowsheds. The second portion of the report is 'devoted to an inquiry into the state of cattle in continental countries near our shores. The disease, 'aPparently, is very rife in Holland, where the measures taken against it are rather :a cordon round the most infected province,=---than the slaughter of infected animals; and where action .has been partially resisted by the people. In France and Belgium, however, the spread of. the disease was directly stopped by the sacrifice 'of 43 French and of 306 Belgian animals, and the absolute prohibition of all importations of ck. • The operation of the orders in council issued from time to time by our Government is described in the third division of the document. The fourth opens with the statement that the main body of the commissioners still adhere to, and Mr. M'Cle.an still dissents from, the conclusions they first laid down 'l'respecting the general character of the disease," and the measures to be adopted to arrest its progress. They then explain the system of investigation set on foot to establish a sound basis for curative or preventive treatment. Reports from most of the eight medical men to whom these investigations were committed are in the commissioners' hands ; and the whole of this inquiry will "very soon be completed." The concluding portion of the report contains a statement of "some points of more or less practical moment" that have been arrived at by the commissioners :-1. That no thoroughly efficacious treatment of the disease has been discovered. 2. That vaccination is not, though perhaps inoculation may be, a protection against the plague. 3. That the only means of comba-1 tina j.t is to arrest the spread of infection, by the Stoppage of the movement of stock, by the isolation and slaughter of infected cattle, and by the use of all disinfectants: The best disinfectants, carbolic acid and chloride of lime, are pointed out by the commissioners, and the most efficient mode of using them ; but as to the best mode of securing the immediate slaughter of infected cattle, they state that "this commission possesses no special information." They are, however, quite sure of two things, namely, that "the subsoil poison of this disease has now diffused itself throughout the country," and that in all probability fresh importations of contagion will follow the circulation of fresh relays of foreign cattle throughout the island,  at the rate oflo,ooo per week, More especially as the transport route through Holland lies through the most highly infected district of that country. The mere inspection of such multitudes of stock is, in their opinion, a defective guard against this danger ; the sole preservative lies in the restriction of cattle importation to certain ports, the slaughter of the fat and the detention in quarantine of the lean beasts. These are the sole administrative suggestions contained in the report ; nor does it attempt to embody any system to be adopted respecting the inland or the maritime transport of cattle, or the establishment of slaughter-houses and dead-meat markets. The last paragraph states "that the present calamity has shown how defective are our general precautions, if precautions can be said to exist, for the detection and prevention of contagious cattle diseases," and that it is most desirable that an improvement should take place in this respect. The appendix contains evidence, oral and documentary, on the points adverted to in the report. .1...  , , -- ' ..i,..:'. A meeting:.r Of her Majesty :s Coramision, .01ers for 'the Paris Exhibitior4fpci7 will,be.held at the South Kensington 'Museum, on Monday, the 19thiP4,01,-. ;ill ~1 -.. ... . . • The Judical Committee of the .Privy sat on Tuesday. • :Present : .The'lldid Justice Turner,. ,Sir E. V. 'Williams, Sir 3: Whine, -'• dila 'Sir. . Lawrencs Peel. • , . . . ' -On Saturday, at Beeston, near Leeds, Sarah . Nvidell, the wile of i.ctillier' but Who .had for: :some time been separated ,from her husband) coinmitted suicide by •jtimping down the shaft ' of .a. coalpit. . The shaft was of 'considerable , ddpth, and the woman was killed on • the spot, her WO ibeiiierightklly. Mutilated:. . . :Mr. Joseph Cliffe, machinist, of IluddersfiAld, was choked while, getting"siipper With his Wife on Friday nigh'A) (iv.-4.L4 DETERMINED" tiTTE3ipT AT