Scotland in the nineteenth century

1. Agriculture

Section 1.10: Livestock

"to consider the powers entrusted to the Privy Council by sections 64 and 75 of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1869, with a view to ensure a sufficient supply of water and food to all animals brought by sea to ports in Great Britain, and to all animals carried by railway in Great Britain. Also with a view to protect animals from unnecessary suffering from over-crowding and other causes, during their sea passage ... Also to report how ... the before-mentioned powers are to be exercised, both with regard to the humane treatment of animals, and the bringing of animal food to market in the most fit state for human consumption."

The Committee reported that there was not much fault to find with the accommodation afforded on board vessels engaged in foreign trade. The transportation of animals on railways was in greater need of regulation and the Committee made the following recommendations:

1. Trucks for conveyance of animals should be provided with spring buffers and screw couplings, and the floors should be battened.
2. The charge made by railway companies in future for the conveyance of animals should be per head per mile, both for fat and lean cattle.
3. Food and water should be provided and water troughs erected at all the stations named by the railway companies and at any other stations which the Privy Council appointed thereafter.
4. Freshly shorn sheep should not be carried in uncovered trucks between 1st November and 1st May.

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1. The minimum speed of trains conveying animals should not be less than at the rate of 18 miles per hour for the whole journey.
2. Whenever any of these regulations were infringed, the railway company concerned should be deemed to be the person acting in contravention of these regulations under section 102 of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1869.

2. Contagious diseases (animals). Report from the Select Committee. Proceedings, minutes of evidence, appendix, 1873.
Vol. XI, xxx, 756p. (Sessional no. 353)
Chairman: The Rt. Hon. William Edward Forster.

"to inquire into the operations of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1869, and the Cattle Diseases Acts (Ireland), and the constitution of the veterinary departments of Great Britain and Ireland."

The Committee considered the provisions and the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1869, concerning the importation of foreign animals.

Some of the witnesses representing the agricultural interest urged that all fat animals imported from abroad should be slaughtered at the port of landing and that foreign store animals should either be slaughtered on arrival or subjected to a long quarantine. On the other hand representations were made by butchers and dealers that such an enactment would discourage importation and tend to raise the price of meat, especially in inland towns.

The Committee concluded that no change should be made in the Act so far as it related to foreign animals, but it recommended that the Privy Council should continue to order the slaughter at the landing-places of all foreign animals imported from countries in which cattle plague existed or from which there was reason to fear it might be introduced.

Complaints were made by English and Scottish farmers that imports from Ireland caused an increase in pleuro-pneumonia and foot and mouth disease.

The Committee recommended that:

1. The regulations in Great Britain and Ireland with regard to contagious diseases should be similar.
2. Such regulations should be enforced at the landing places in Great Britain and Ireland.
3. The Irish government should take steps by inspection at Irish ports to prevent the shipment to Great Britain of any diseased or infected animals.

Scottish evidence indicated that a great many cattle were transported from Scotland to England by sea. These were principally fat cattle rather than store cattle so the condition in which they arrived was not considered particularly important.

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"to inquire into the causes of the recent outbreak of cattle plague, and the measures taken for its repression; and into the effect which the importation of live foreign animals has upon the introduction of disease into this country, and upon the supply and price of food."

Main recommendations:

1. No animals should be imported from Russia and no cattle from Germany or Belgium. All animals imported for slaughter should be slaughtered at the port of disembarkation and all store or dairy cattle should he quarantined for 14 days.
2. Uniform rules applicable to all infected districts should be issued by the Privy Council but enforced by the local authority.
3. The full value should be paid, subject to a maximum of £40, for slaughtered animals suspected of having cattle plague or pleuro-pneumonia. This, it was hoped, would encourage the reporting of disease.

Evidence from Scotland included an Edinburgh livestock agent, a Glasgow butcher, a representative of the Highland Agricultural Association and the President of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture.

There was disagreement as to the desirability of slaughter at the port of disembarkation, the butcher and the livestock agent being against it and the representatives of farming interests being in favour. However, all agreed that foot and mouth disease was frequently imported with cattle from Ireland and thus created a problem in Scotland; for example, cattle stock in the Lothians had been greatly depleted by foot and mouth disease between 1873 and 1876.

Adam Smith, the representative of the Highland Agricultural Association (pp. 391-395) proposed that the Privy Council should produce uniform regulations and that a central board should appoint officers to enforce them. James Melvin, President of Scottish Chamber of Agriculture (pp. 406-414) was also in favour of a uniform system of regulations throughout Britain.

"to consider and report whether legislation for the purpose of requiring the foreign or colonial origin of imported agricultural and horticultural produce, and especially meat, cheese and fruit, to be marked thereon or otherwise indicated, is necessary, expedient, and feasible; and, if so, what are the provisions which such legislation should comprise."

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The Committee confined their inquiries to the marking of foreign meat. The Merchandise Marks Acts of 1887 and 1891 had proved a dead letter. Two bills were before parliament at that time, which proposed that any meat from foreign countries should be labelled. There was much misrepresentation of foreign meat; American chilled beef was often passed off as English or Scottish and many imported animals were slaughtered at Glasgow and sent to Smithfield to be sold as best Scotch. The Glasgow butchers claimed that only meat from cattle imported as store cattle and fattened and slaughtered in Scotland could justifiably be called Scottish meat.

The Committee maintained that the consumer should know if he was being sold foreign meat and he should be charged less for it. They recommended that anyone dealing in imported meat should be registered and should exhibit a notice. They thought all retail butchers' shops should be inspected. They also recommended that the Merchandise Marks Act, 1891 should be extended to include the Board of Agriculture.

"to inquire into the conditions under which the transit of animals by road or rail is at present conducted, and to consider what further measures, if any, can with advantage be taken, either by legislation or otherwise, to protect them from suffering, and to ensure their delivery in the best possible condition."

Farmers and cattle dealers throughout Great Britian complained about delays in transit of cattle by rail and alleged that they often arrived at their destination bruised and suffering from exhaustion. They also claimed it was extremely difficult to obtain compensation for injury to animals from railway companies. In the face of increasing competition from abroad, the home cattle trade could be seriously damaged by this. Cattle transported from Canada, the United States and South America sustained relatively little injury.

The carrying companies, on the other hand, alleged that the complaints of the cattle traders were exaggerated. They blamed the traders for attempting to crowd too many cattle into the trucks, and claimed that the improvements which the cattle traders suggested would necessitate increased rates.

The Committee made a number of recommendations concerning the construction of cattle trucks, of speed, shunting, overcrowding, free passes for drovers, rest, food and water for the cattle, and the liability of railway companies.