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but also general powers to issue orders to control other diseases. There has been some exercise of these powers in the case of bovine tuberculosis and contagious abortion, but not in that of mastitis or Johne's disease.
(i) The tuberculosis order of 1925.
108. The tuberculosis order of 1925, which extends to the whole of Great Britain, refers to any animal to which one of the following descriptions applies :-
(i) any cow which is, or appears to be, suffering from tuber- culosis of the udder or other chronic disease of the udder; or
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111. The numbers of cattle slaughtered under this order, and the compensation paid under it, are given in the following table (table 5):-
TABLE 5.
Animals slaughtered in Great Britain under the tuberculosis order of 1925 during the years 1926 to 1932, and the compensation paid therefor.
Number of animals
Year.
slaughtered by
Total compensation.
local authorities.
Average compensation per
animal.
£
d.
3 12 11
3
4 co co co co
7 9
3 10 1
3 16
£
1926
17,348
63,264
1927
17,381
58,872
1928
(ii) any bovine animal which is, or appears to be, suffering from
tuberculous emaciation; or
16,759
58,752
1929
15,532
59,165
1930
15,263
61,353
4 0
5
1931
18,603
76,483
2 3
1932
19,027
68,815
12 4
H26 05 H
STOGONN
(iii) any bovine animal which is suffering from a chronic cough, and showing definite clinical signs of tuberculosis.
109. The owner of any such animal must notify the local authority, isolate the animal upon his own premises, and boil its milk. Any veterinary surgeon in private practice discovering such an animal must also notify the local authority.
110. Any local authority which receives such a notification, or which has reason to suspect that such an animal or an animal giving tuberculous milk is kept upon any premises belonging to any person licensed to sell milk, must direct a veterinary inspector to examine the suspected animal, and any suspicious animal belonging to the same herd. If his report confirms the notification or suspicion, the animal must be slaughtered. It then becomes the property of the authority, which must pay compensation to the owner. Compensa- tion is calculated with reference to the animal's market value (as defined in the order, an extract from which is given below*). It exceeds this value by one pound if post-mortem examination shows the animal is free from the disease. If the animal proves tuberculous, the compensation is either a minimum sum of thirty shillings or three-quarters of the value of the animal if the disease is not advanced and half its value if the disease is advanced, less in each case half the costs of valuation. The Ministry of Agriculture repays local authorities three-quarters of the compensation.
* Under the tuberculosis order, 1925, the market value of an animal is defined as "the price which might reasonably have been obtained from a purchaser in the open market who had no knowledge of the existence or suspected existence in the animal of the symptoms of disease disclosed by the report of the inspector
except such knowledge thereof as might. reasonably have been obtained by inspection of the animal."
112.
The reduction in the average compensation paid in 1932
is principally due to the reduction of the minimum compensation from 45 shillings to 30 shillings. The evidence that we have received all points to the fact that the tuberculosis order of 1925 has done nothing to reduce the incidence of disease. Nor has it done much to protect the public from infected milk, as the majority of the cows are not reported until towards the end of their lactation, or when in an advanced state of the disease.
113. The local authorities for the purposes of this order and for the purposes of the diseases of animals acts generally are county borough councils, the councils of boroughs which at the census of 1881 had a population of more than 10,000, and, for other districts, county councils. A provision is included in the act whereby local authorities may transfer their powers under the act to contiguous authorities. Use has been made of this provision in some instances, but not to the extent that is desirable.
(ii) The epizootic abortion order of 1922 and previous orders. 114. Under the epizootic abortion order of 1922, which applies to the whole of Great Britain, the owner of any cow which has calved prematurely within the last two months, must take certain specified precautions against bringing her into contact with cattle belonging to other owners. Prosecutions occasionally take place under this order, but it is not easy to enforce, and most witnesses considered it ineffective.
115. An order confined to Devonshire was issued in 1912, and remained in force, with modifications, till 1920, when it was revoked
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