Letters and Papers Concerning the Trans-Persian Railway and Other Railways in Persia [‎138r] (275/442)

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1911 Foot-and-Mouth Disease. 10 July 1912 Foot-and-Mouth Disease. 1912
Agriculture in England by their own
officials that they were mutilated in the
manner described ?
Mr. RUSSELL: The animals never ar
rived; it was the heads only. Unques
tionably a sack containing ten heads ar
rived at Liverpool, and in one head lesions
of foot-and-mouth disease were found—in
one head only. The Waterford heads did
not come in a sack; they came in two ham
pers. The heads were all examined by
the veterinary surgeon of the local autho
rity before they left Waterford, and he has
reported that there was no disease to be
found. It is a question that must be in
vestigated very carefully, and I am not
prepared to accept the assumption upon
which the hon. Members proceeds, namely,
that the fault must be at Waterford and
not elsewhere.
Mr. J. REDMOND: In view of the state
ment of the right hon. Gentleman that no
case of disease has been discovered in
Waterford or anywhere in Ireland out
side Swords, can the right hon. Gentle
man now see his way to take off the em
bargo from Waterford and the other ports
which are still under itl
Mr. RUSSELL: The hon. and learned
Gentleman must know that I have not put
on the embargo. The embargo has been
put on by the President of the Board of
Agriculture in England. I believe it to
be true that the disease has not pene
trated beyond the parish of Swords. In
saying that I have taken the opinion of
my Department and of my advisers. I
am quite willing to confer with my right
hon. Friend the President of the Board of
Agriculture in England and to place before
him the facts as we see them in Ireland.
The decision whether or not the ports are
to be opened must rest with him. My duty
is to state the facts. I believe there is a
clean bill of health outside Swords, and
if there is no further outbreak it will be
for the President of the Board of Agricul
ture to consider that.
. Mr. REMNANT: Have you not already
conferred with him I
England, impressing upon them the desir
ability of opening the ports ?
Mr. RUSSELL: I am prepared to lay
all the facts before the President of the
Board of Agriculture. That is what I
will do.
Mr. T. M. HEALY: Have we no protec
tion whatever in this matter! Can we
have the name of the person who started
this lie about the diseased animals from
Waterford 1
Mr. STANLEY WILSON: Runciman
told us.
Mr. T. M. HEALY: It has done enormous
damage. Surely some retractation should
be made.
Mr. SHEEHAN : Can the right hon. Gen
tleman make any statement about the case
of suspicion at Limerick to which he re
ferred last Friday 1 ?
Mr. RUSSELL: On the Motion for Ad
journment the other night I dealt with the
Limerick case pretty fully. We are per
fectly satisfied that that animal contracted
the disease after it landed in England.
Mr. STANIER: Does the right hon.
Gentleman deny that these heads at Liver
pool came from Waterford?
Mr. RUSSELL: That ten heads went
across the water in two hampers is un
doubted. I do not deny that. But the
Liverpool offal merchants are getting con
signments of offal from other parts of the
country than Ireland, and it is just pos
sible that a sack of heads came from some
part of the North of England infected by
the disease, and that Ireland has got the
credit of the sack.
72. Mr. DORIS asked the Vice-Presi
dent of the Department of Agriculture
(Ireland) whether any trace of foot-and-
mouth disease or other serious cattle
disease had been found in Mayo county or
within 130 miles of it; and, if not, would
he take prompt steps to have the restric
tions upon the movement of cattle within
or from that county removed 1
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Mr. RUSSELL: Yes, every day.
Mr. J. REDMOND: I quite recognise
that the ultimate decision must rest with
the President of the Board of Agricul
ture in this country, but will the Vice-
President of the Irish Department, after
the statement he has made, make repre
sentations to the Board of Agriculture in
Mr. RUSSELL: In reply to the question
of the hon. Member, I am glad to say that
county Mayo has been quite free from foot-
and-mouth disease for tw^enty-seven years.
I understand from my right hon. Friend
the Minister for Agriculture that he would
be glad to consider the case for the re
moval of the restrictions on the export
of cattle from the Connaught ports if